Why Me!
by DracoMalfoy'sPrincess
Summary: By blaming a birthday wish; in which Hermione Granger asked for a more interesting life, she finds an excuse to blame her new situation on. Her office has been taken over by Draco Malfoy and Blaise Zabini. Drama ensues as Hermione finds herself at the end of her tether concerning one blond haired, grey eyed man.
1. First Day of The End of My Life

**Hey guys, this is ****my first story so i hope you like it, and please press the little button at the bottom to tell me what you think. x**

Hopefully you like my portrayal of Hermione and she is not too out of character.

* * *

So; how did it all start...hmn?

That's the question on my lips. How, in the name of merlin, did my life get abducted by a bunch of snakes over the span of a day?

I mean, I have a hunch. Let's go back to my birthday yesterday. Yes... I am that idiotic twenty three year old who is not happy with her lot and wishes that her life could be more exciting. And, just where did it get me?

Sodden underwear and a lot more unmentionable things.

So, back to my birthday.

* * *

I had a cake. A nice, big, pink cake with twenty three candles. One wish and all the candles are blown out.

There's the moment of silence as all of your friends look at you for this momentous moment. It happens to us all. Once a year. A tradition that makes an appearance every year.

One wish a year. ONE. So the decision is very big. Though, usually I don't believe in something with so little credibility. I mean I wished for a pony when I was seven... Did I get one? NO! (NO pony, but this you grant me?!) Then again, I did wish to be a witch and that came true. However, I may have also asked for the tree in my garden to turn purple and that didn't occur. As much as this could swing either way... It hasn't. And I firmly believe that all the factors all point to my wish being taken the wrong way and has ended with me being in hell.

What was my wish?

I had all eyes on me. Spotlight moment. Ok, the candles illuminated my face and gave me a superstar fantasy, but then I blew them out, anyway... I made a wish. I wished for an INTERESTING year.

Again, INTERESTING! Not SCARY. NOT FREAKY. Definitely not a year where BLAISE ZABINI has invaded my office after rudely buying the company without my knowledge or permission - not that he needed it, but I mean ... Come on. COMMON COURTESY PEOPLE! Not only that, DRACO sodding MALFOY has arrived. In my breathing space.

Seriously, how could this happen to me? Hermione Granger. I worked hard, I studied. I did everything in my power to move up the ranks. But I am still _**under **_Draco Malfoy. My childhood tormentor just dying to dispose of me once and for all – well, maybe I'm being a little melodramatic. I don't think he wants to kill me really, that would defeat the purpose of **ANNOYING **me and I don't think he is that dumb ... then again, lots of information, excluding scholastic grades, point to the vague idea that he really is **just that dumb... **(I mean, he **did **date PANSY PARKINSON in her bitch years!)

I got my wish out of the way. INTERESTING LIFE. Remember that!

Ginny, Harry, Ron and all my other friends took leave, and I went to sleep.

* * *

Disaster struck the day after- today... more commonly known as the worst day of my life. Looking back now, I can pinpoint the exact time it went wrong. WHEN I WOKE UP! And that wasn't even the worst thing that happened to me. It just kept getting worse and worse.

This morning, seven fourteen

Have you ever had the urge to dance around while you are getting dressed? Well, I have. I had the urge this morning.

I woke up with a clear head.

I **did not** wake up with the intention of jumping around in my underclothes and exposing myself to the world. These things just happen.

Can you guess how my morning went?

If you guessed that I did the boob shimmy with only a bra on - in front of an open window, may I add - then you got it bang on right. And not to mention that there was a very - number eight on the scale out of ten - man waving at me.

What am I going to wear on the first date? NOTHING?

Well, it was not like I could just rush over and shut the curtain. That would look way too obvious - and probably be all the invitation he needed to rush over and knock on my door. So, I dance over to my t-shirt and pull that over my head, which is all the invitation he needs to walk on.

I wanted to scream, "Yeah, go find someone else's breasts to ogle at," but I figured that would invite some attention that was undesired by my breasts - and he was hot, which translates to pretty intimidating - so I just left it. And shut the curtain for good measure.

After I had gotten dressed I walked downstairs and got something to eat. Breakfast bar, in case you are wondering. I could say that I had a full English breakfast or a stack of pancakes, but I didn't and now I just wish I had.

I was sitting down watching TV and following my normal morning routine of sulking until the alarm telling me to go to work beeopes (say it out loud, that is what it sounds like... OVER AND OVER. Can you guess why I rush out of the house so fast?!), when I realised that the whole situation could have gone a lot worse.

He could have had a video camera, he could have been a pervy older guy, or – worst case scenario – could have been someone I knew!

But he wasn't. So it was all ok – for that moment in time.

* * *

So, obviously my day didn't start out like a ray of sunshine. But, I had higher hopes for the remainder of the day as I stepped out of the house and made my way down the road, breathing in the ... Yep, whatever that was, it was not fresh air and it was pretty rank.

The bin men were passing, the rain didn't seem to be on my side - it didn't want to flush the smell away (a flood may have been needed) and it also caused a puddle the size of the world against the curb. Near where I was walking. In my white cashmere jumper - highly likely to go see through if hit...

Now, I should tell you that there are two sides to road when crossing the duel carriage way, so when I thought I was being highly intelligent - something I pride myself on - and very '_clever_' when I turned away. I didn't see the oncoming bus. There is a different between '_clever_' and intelligence. Intelligence is the smartness. Being '_clever_' is when you hold yourself in high regard and believe you have outsmarted everyone else.

'_Clever'_ had me walking to work with my red bra appearing through my jumper. My lack of intelligence made me leave my coat at home even though I knew it would rain today.

You may be asking why I decided not to bother apparating to work? Well; a few years ago I started walking to work (even though I had to pass through muggle and magical towns) because I thought I needed a health kick.

Never had I imagined a day like this.

* * *

I find myself at work twenty minutes later, in my chair - with wet underwear (I decided to wait for the bus and sat on a wet bench, don't... Just don't!) since I hadn't managed to get the drying charm that far before I was called into a meeting to discuss the change in managerial roles.

I had seen Blaise Zabini - Italian, tall, sexy, arrogant, obnoxious, a stick up his arse ect. Ect... - and his partner who matches him in arrogance and sheer idiocy, the one and only Draco Malfoy.

I hadn't seen him since I left my job at the Ministry a year after my appointment in the Department of Magical Creatures and their Welfare - I hadn't been able to hack the idea of being shoved aside every day for other 'more important' things, so I decided to find a job handing out more money for less work so I could focus more money and energy on saving to open a sanctuary for Magical Creatures, a place where they could talk to people and where I could try to make a difference in their lives. So far; well, my failure outshines my achievement. But I still have hopes of making it. I have the plans and everything.

Back to the point, Malfoy.

I had to admit that the years had been kinder to him that I had hoped. Actually, I had hoped that they had had a scaring affect on him and he wouldn't venture past his manor gates, but they hadn't.

Blond - I'm sure he does something to it, no one can be that blond without some sort of spell - and his features had rounded out into some sort of god-esque face. Don't get me wrong here, he could be a male model and I wouldn't jump into his bed because of his attitude. I would rather die before acting like one of the other girls here!

"Oh mister Malfoy, can I get you some coffee?" or "Oh Mister Malfoy, can I call you Draco? Ok... Mr Malfoy, can I get you anything..." here is where the office slut - ok, today's office slut because this is totally new behaviour - sticks out her breasts and obviously tries to get him to voice the desire to have her. He says no. Surprising.

Anyway, I get called into the board meeting - wet underwear and all - and Malfoy appraises me, a gleam in his eye telling me that he might somehow know about the wet underwear situation. Now that I think about it, it might have left a patch on the back of my skirt.

I had seen them padding around the day before - I thought they were lost - and had also witnessed the asking of many questions - I was going to call security, but then they left. The one good thing was that I am bloody glad I didn't call security.

"Good afternoon," Great, it had started.

I keep my face neutral as he speaks through the hour - explaining the ins and outs of the change in boss and then tells us that nothing is going to change in our working environment.

He proceeds to fire four members of the six of us. "Ms. Granger," this is it, I'm fired too. "You will take on Mr. Johnstones roll." deputy head of department. I even get an office. Better than my old 'no title' job.

I should probably explain what it is that we really do. There used to be six of us who ran the tests on different cosmetic and medicinal concoctions to produce the leading brands that benefited our boss and gave us a steady - miniscule - wage. There were factories somewhere else that made our products, and then there were other people in this building that marketed, branded, did the accounts ect.

Malfoy continued to watch me, smirking slightly. "Show a bit of gratitude, Granger," I forced a smile onto my lips.

"Thank you, Mr Zabini." I smiled, ignoring Malfoy completely. Malfoy moved in his chair, leaning forward to say something - at least I hopped he was going to say something because the alternatives were that he was moving to hit me, or he was moving to fart. I'm not sure which would be the better option. The hitting, definitely, as it could have resulted in the hopeful removal of Malfoy from the premises because Zabini doesn't seem like the kind of guy to accept violence. Wishful thinking, hey?

"You're very welcome, Ms. Granger." Zabini smiled.

"If you want her to get into your bed you just have to pay her a bit more." This came from Malfoy, making me flush and look to the ground. "No snarky retort, Granger?" he laughed, "Is the old bean failing, too much time with the weasel if you ask me."

I knew it was dangerous, but I found my voice, "I didn't." this time it was my turn to smirk, "And anyway, spending time with a weasel is better than spending time with a ferret any day." Blaise laughed and the other man at the table - Kevin Daniels - smirked even though he didn't even know what I was referring too. I think everyone just wants to take Malfoy down a peg or a million.

"That's it, Granger." he paused, "Your fired."

Blaise laugh and winks in my direction, "Oh swallow your pride Draco." he clicked his tongue as he turns on Malfoy, "She's no such thing."

I sighed, relieved. Thank Merlin. I mean, hating them was one thing - but being out of a job_ and _being fired by them would just have finished me off.

"Thank you," I said again and walked out with my head held high when he dismissed the remaining two of us.

"So," Kevin Daniels began to speak, and I knew exactly what was coming next, "How do you know Mr. Zabini and Mr. Malfoy?" Kevin, who is a good decade older than my twenty three years was not a Hogwarts when I was.

"Hogwarts," I said and then I turned to him, stopping him in his tracks, "They are not very nice people."

"I know," He said, of course he knows I mean the Malfoy's have a double page spread in the _Daily Prophet _every other Wednesday just for breathing, you can't have that air of arrogance and superiority without being a little bit of a bastard. I don't still hold the events of the war against them, but they never really seemed that remorseful - Draco and Narcassia were fully pardoned, and Lucius got away with only a year in Azkaban (they say it changes people but his royal bastard doesn't seemed to have changed all that much) - and it makes you a bit more than a little wary. I don't think I'll ever be very chummy with the Lord and Lady Malfoy and their pigheaded son - and I believe that I am right to assume that they are ecstatic with this fact.

"Not because of what they have done in the past," I hissed under my breath, even though being a death eater does point in the direction of psychotic, though that was five years ago. "They are just bastards, they don't care about other people. Did you see how they just fired everyone?"

"But us," He smirked and then nodded seriously. "I get it."

"Spreading rumours about us already?" Malfoy walked past, shoving me out of the way and making me fall into Kevin so there was the uncomfortable pause where his arms circled my waist and I didn't know how to extract myself politely.

For some reason, my mouth decided to open itself. "They are not rumours if they are true." I said. Against all contradictory evidence that there might be, I really don't go looking for difficult situations to shove myself in. I keep my head down, my eyes down and I focus on my work. But, Malfoy just seems to attract my bad side - a side I keep well hidden from others.

"Get in my office, NOW." Malfoy wrapped a hand around my upper arm and dragged me down the corridor until he threw me through the door of his office.

"Now, Granger." He walked around my chair a few times before stopping in front of me and leaning closer, his hands on the arm rests of my chair. His breath smelled wonderful - I know, but that was really all I could think of at that moment. Well, that and the fact that the years have been REALLY kind to him. "I always thought that you were a bit of a bitch, but really? Gossiping about me on my first day?!" I cowered back against the chair. I have to admit that I may have forgotten that I had a wand. He's really intimidating.

"Can you blame me?" I hissed back at him, regaining the back bone that I had lost control of for my first few minutes in the office, "You were the one who insinuated that I was soliciting my body for money."

"You are the one who showed up with your bra showing through your top!" Ok, I thought no one had seen that. Obviously I have to work on my stealthi-ness. "It was deserved, you put the idea in my head."

"I got soaked in the rain. I didn't DO IT ON PURPOSE!"

"I am your boss Granger, and you will treat me with respect." He hissed, so close to my face that his eyes were merging into one.

I blinked, my head spinning from having something so close to my eyes, it gave me a slight nauseous feeling and I really didn't want to throw up over his shoes. "Yes, Mr. Malfoy."

"Boss." He said and I shook my head confused. "You will address me as boss or sir."

He had to be kidding me right. "You have got to be kidding me."

The glare was enough to know that he was. DEFINITELY NOT KIDDING! Nope. He was_ not_ kidding.

"Yes Sir." Oh god. He had that expression on his face when he knew that he had me trapped. Trapped like a bloody hamster in a cage. I breathed in deep. Maybe it would have been better if I was just fired.

"You may go Granger." I rushed out of the door faster than a firework going off, but he poked his head out of his door after me and called, "Granger, move your crap into your new office because other people need your desk. You're holding everyone up." Really? But I guess I have learned my lesson about answering back, so I keep my mouth shut.

* * *

"How did it go?" Kevin was slouched in the chair in front of my desk, looking up at me - without offering assistance, may I just add - as I was perched precariously on top of a chair trying to open the bloody window. "Just use your bloody wand woman!" I turned to look at him, my expression hard enough to make him hold up his hands in apology.

"I should be able to open it manually, I'm not giving up until I get the stupid thing open!" I cursed colourfully and then went back to wrestling with the window. Now, before anyone decides to make fun of my lack of strength, it was not just me. I am of adequate strength and I had been fighting it for a good fifteen minutes, I was sure I was almost there.

So, you can see how happy I was when I thought I opened it, "I did it." I turned around. Malfoy stood there with is wand out. "Put it back Malfoy!" I moaned and then I turned back to the window, "Sir." I added on at the end, a little sarcastically and way too over the top but he just raises a blond, almost translucent eyebrow.

"You're a witch Granger, act like one."

Kevin smirked at me and then turned and spoke to Malfoy, "That's not the point," his words were laced with sarcasm. KEVIN! Right, he is off the Christmas gift list!

"I know the point," Malfoy smirks, "Granger hates losing, she doesn't like not being able to do something, isn't that right Granger?"

"No, I am perfectly happy losing." I turn back to my window, "Now, will you put my window back to the way it was." he laughed and then my window returned to its natural 'I will not open' state.

"Now that we have the fat that you are a compulsive winner, and a liar, out of the way, I need you to come to a meeting Granger." I tapped the window with my hand, reminding myself that I had to come back and force it open later, and then I straightened my skirt and hopped off the chair.

"Why?"

"Uhmn?"

"Sir," I hissed, in my mind screaming ARSEHOLE! to his back and even though I knew he could not hear me, it made me feel instantly better.

"You are the deputy head of this department, you not have to deal with all departmental meetings along with the head of this department who will be arriving tomorrow."

"May I ask who that will be?" I headed towards the door and he followed me out. I had a hunch on the type of person who it would be, but I kept my mouth shut.

"Theodor Nott." He said and I felt my shoulders sag, "Adrian Pucey will also be taking a position in this department, as will Pansy Parkinson. I'm sure you remember them all."

"Yes, I'm going to be swimming in a lake full of snakes, aren't I?"

He smirked and then pushed me into the board room before him, "I can't promise we won't bite."

* * *

"Wonderful, Ms. Granger." Zabini smiled at me as I took my seat and then turned to the rest of the room. Consisting of four other people. "The rest of the people taking these seats will arrive tomorrow."

I zoned out for the rest of the meeting. _Take control, make sure that you bring all good ideas to the boss, _ect ect. Blah blah blah.

"You may go."

I stood and walked out.

The rest of the day past pretty slowly, but thankfully it was uneventful.

I got the window opened. Yay.

I got more rude, inappropriate comments from Draco Malfoy, but I managed to keep a cool head and ignored them. I'm quite proud of myself for that fact.

And I made my way to the doors with my head held high and feeling pretty good about myself. Yep, I could get through this.

"Granger," Who was I kidding? I wanted to rip his head off his body before he even said anything. "You are going to have to stay, Zabini and I need your help... Could you be a good little girl and run and get us some takeout? Have you ever had this food called Pizza? It's great." I wanted to scream that I knew what Pizza was. That I had known since I was born what PIZZA was, but I kept my mouth shut and took the money in his outstretched hand.

So this brings me up to date with where I am in the day.

* * *

I am standing in a Pizza Take Away shop and watching as they make a super hot chilli pizza because that is the only thing that I can think of doing to try and dish Malfoy out some of what he sold to me. Yes. A Spicy Pizza. And I bet he even loves spicy food.

I get a mushroom one too, for me and one with a lot of crap on it because there must be something that they like in it. I mean, I don't want to loose my job.

"Here you are."

"Thanks." Zabini smiles and Malfoy just snatches the boxes from me. "Didn't you get yourself anything? Were going to be here all night." I sigh, but don't mention that they stole my pizza.

"I had a big lunch."

"You were at the meeting during your lunch break." Oh, just give it a rest Zabini.

I sigh, "Fine, my pizza is the one with mushrooms."

"Why didn't you just say so?"

Yeah, why didn't I say so? "Because..." I trail off an sit down on the floor.

Actually I sit there for most of the night. They only ask for my input on small things about once every hour. A waste of a good evening if you ask me.

I fall asleep on the floor.

"Granger!" I jerk awake. "You are dismissed." um? Dismissed?

I fall through the floo network and land in my living room. So much for walking!

Right now, all I want to do is sleep. Then kill Draco Malfoy. But sleep has to come first.

* * *

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	2. Where Have All My Ideas Gone!

**Hi, So i'm glad that you liked the first chapter and thank you for the reveiws****, so this chapter is dedicated to fspsarcastic - my first reviwer :) **

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**DracoMalfoy'sPrincess xx****:) **

* * *

My body cries as I wake this morning, the muscles in my neck strain from overuse and I have to rotate my way out of bed. ROTATE! All of this is MALFOY'S fault. He made me SLEEP on the FLOOR. On the FLOOR. A hard, unrelenting place to lay my bones and I will not forgive him. Not that I really think he cares. I just think that he should care. I mean, what kind of establishment would it be if all the employees hated their boss? Malfoy's one? I mean, whatever occupation he could throw himself into, I have high expectations that he would be able to make every single one of his co-workers hate him. With a passion.

All of it Malfoy's fault. Every last straining muscle. Every glancing or throbbing pain. Rolling out of my comfortable sanctuary of covers and blankets I find myself in the shower. Soothing water flows over my head, making me smile and forget my life for a few small moments and I breathe in and out deeply, focusing on the small bit of pleasure that has arisen in my hellish life.

I mean, someone should better warn the devil because hell must have frozen over if I am supposed to force myself to get along with Malfoy for a second day in a row.

I make my way to work using the floo network. I've given up on the health kick; if my life is already on a downward spiral, gaining a few pounds won't matter.

Now, this is what I get when I walk through my office door. "GRANGER!" It's already started. At 9: 02, in fact. "You are LATE!" His blond hair falls into his eyes as he shakes his head at me, quite sternly actually. He's standing in my doorway as I place my bag onto my desk and pull out the files that I had at home that needed to be returned.

Walking over, he flicks his head to remove his hair from obscuring his vision. It's the kind of movement that some girls find endearing; sexy. Trust me when I say I've seen many girls fall weak at the knees when they watch Draco Malfoy flip his hair...but then there are other girls – I think I may have over exaggerated there, there are two other girls ; myself and Ginny Weasley – that think he looks more like a turtle with a bad neck problem. It's like he can't extend his neck properly. He does it again, and I just want to get a hold on his neck and stretch it out properly. URGH!

A snort escapes my lips before I can stop it – he's lucky I'm not rolling around on the floor laughing – and I speak before I can sensor my mouth."By two minutes." My brain starts functioning again, "Sir."

"Zabini may want to keep you around, but I have no trouble removing you from my offices." He flicks his fingers through the files on my desk and then selects a manila folder before making to the door again. He snarls at me as he turns and I shrink away from him. "Look sharp Granger." He walks out. I catch the back of his head disappearing into his office when I poke my head out of mine to stare disbelievingly after him – it seemed fitting to my situation.

The year of the snakes has arrived."You'll catch flies Granger." a man stands there. I only recall the teenage - pimply, mildly attractive, dark haired - boy, but that boy didn't hold a stick to the man standing in front of me. I could just drop dead. I mean, seriously I am about to faint. Here I go. Going. Going. "Granger?" His words pull me back to life and I'm now the one who decides it's fitting to flip my hair. I groan mentally.

* * *

"Nott." I nod at him and he smiles before moving into his - larger - office which is located next to mine and then yelling at me to get in there.

I groan out loud this time - which he hears - and then I happen to remind myself that he is my superior, so I quickly make my way in (not before trying to draw strength into my lungs by in taking several deep lung full's of oxygen).

I walk over to Theodor Nott's office; admiring the large and very shiny plaque on his door while doing so, and take the seat he gestures to. "Granger," He smiles, "It's going to feel like potions class all over again, try not to show us all up this time."

"It's not my fault if you don't have _it," _He smiles and I manage to smile back. Theodor was never directly rude to me; he laughed when Malfoy said something, but no comments ever really escaped his lips.

He used to be the second smartest person in our year at Hogwarts and we used to sometimes share a table at the back of the library - after all of the war issues calmed and the Slytherin's were accepted back into the school social life. There were some I could make my peace with, Theodor Nott being one of them, but others were way past friendship and closer to enemy territory even if there was no war defining people's sides and ideologies. Some didn't even come back to school.

I guess my relationship with Malfoy has reached a sort of plateau; we've had the same snarky comments since we met and I just don't see it getting any better or worse really. It will just continue to be the same. I don't think the universe could handle a world where Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy could interact without any grimaces or rude comments.

Theo cocks his head and bites a lip before scrutinizing me thorough his clear, emerald green eyes. They are like precious stones looking straight into my soul ... I think I have officially gone crazy. Yep folks; Hermione Granger has officially lost her marbles."Your insults never cease to amaze me, Hermione." He smiles, "It's nice to know you haven't changed in the five years that I haven't seen you."

"Could have gone another five, but... I guess I will just have to make do." I laugh and then lean towards him. "You're not going to make me call you boss or sir right? Because I know you are my superior," much to my annoyance, I mean he's been here one day and he has a higher role that a loyal, almost four year employee – ok, maybe not completely loyal ... there was a time in my second year where I started looking for new jobs but that had stopped by my third year; I promise. "And Malfoy has this whole 'call me boss' thing going."

"No," He laughs and I thank my stars that I have Theo Nott, in all his glory, by my side.

"Thank Merlin." I say, "I mean I think I'm going to go crazy if I have to keep saying that!"

Theo smirks and then flicks through a file on the desk in front of him, I can slearly see the big, red 'HERMIONE GRANGER' written on the front of the manila folder. "Don't blame you, sweetheart."

"Don't chat up my employees at work, Nott," Malfoy makes an appearance, sticking his head into the room. "She takes cash." Nott laughs and I shoot Malfoy a very dirty look.

I say the first thing that pops into my head and boy do I wish I hadn't. "I'd do Nott for free." I bury my head into my hands, gripping my hair and pulling hard enough to probably rip it out of my head. "Are you happy Malfoy?" I ask, "You have me replying to your crude, inappropriate comments because I can't stand to lose. You were right... God that hurt just saying it! I don't like losing, I don't like having someone like you hovering and making sexual innuendoes because you can. I mean for the first eight years of our acquaintance, putting it nicely because I don't want to be rude to you - you called me a prude. Why don't you just go back to that?!"

"Maybe she does need to have sex, loosen her up a bit." Malfoy gives me a look, "You tense Granger?"

"URGH!" I throw my hands up into the air. "There has to be some sort of code that says 'bosses can't say sexual comments to their employees!'" My face is burning and my hands are inching towards my wand. I have the slight suspicion that Malfoy realises this because he mimics my actions perfectly. I finally realise that I can't curse my employer into the next century, so I relax my grip on the stick of wood in my pocket and wait for him to speak.

"Nah," He shakes his head, "I don't think so." He takes a seat next to mine and then stands again. "Nott," he flicks his finger and I appraise him as he makes Nott stand and switch seats with him. Now that he feels that the pecking order in the room has been returned to order, he seems to get down to business. "So, what is the plan for today?"

I keep my mouth shut, knowing that this is not my place to speak.

Nott sits next to me, his leg shaking and I have half a mind to slam it to the ground because the movement annoys the heck out of me, but I censor my hands and keep them clenched at my side. "I'm going to look over the work that was in progress, decide which ones are worth pursuing and then listen to any new ideas we have," Theo smirks at Draco and then we both wait to hear what he has to say.

Theo and I watch as Malfoy flicks through a folder. A folder with HERMIONE GRANGER written on the front. I suppose he has already seen it, I mean he must have looked through them all to decide who got to stay and who had to leave, but I had a really bad employee photo in my second year – it was not a good year – and I'm pretty sure it's still in there... Yep, he found it.

"Granger, what is this?" I hang my head, my cheeks flaming. "Is this really you?" as he says it he is laughing, hard. Hard enough that Nott reaches over to see what all the fuss is about. My 'superior' who, ten minutes ago, I was thankful for having, has now turned into Personal Enemy Numero Uno. He joins in the laughing. Yes the haircut was pretty bad. I wasn't ready when he took the photo and I was trying to take something out of my teeth at the moment of the click, but it could have been worse. I could have been stuck with it for more than one whole year.

By the time that they have regained control over their mouths and I have demanded that the photo be burned – to which, Malfoy stuck the photo in his pocket and said that he would dispose of it later (I have no doubt that it will find its way into the _Daily Prophet _by sundown) – the situation has taken a U-turn and we are back to the subject of work. "I get the final say on the new projects,"

"Alright, man." Theo nods and then waits for Draco to continue.

Draco stands and then walks to the door, "Granger, you can help me today." He walks out of the door, not waiting for me to follow.

I swear that he just lives to make my life hell. I slam my head down onto the table a little harder than necessary and then draw myself up again to look at Theo. "That is going to bruise." I say, "Oh great, another thing he can take the piss out of me for."

I stand and walk to the door; Theo sits behind his desk and taps it with his fingers. "I'll see you at lunch, Granger."

"I doubt Malfoy – the inhumane robot – needs to eat, so I wouldn't hold your breath." I say and then I leave the comfort of Theo's office.

Even though we are not actually 'friends', I will accept that we are friendly associates. Further explained with the definition; I do not want to tear my hair out when I am in his company and he is nice to look at.

* * *

"You do realise that I am your employee and therefore I believe, but correct me if I am wrong, I should be doing some sort of work?" I look at him. He's sitting on the other side of his ornately carved, mahogany desk, and flicking through files like I'm not here. "I thought time was money?"

He puts the folder down on a stack that teeters precariously before stabilising itself, and then raises his head to look at me. "As much as you are going to hate to admit this Granger, I know you."

"No you don't!" I say, shaking my head and hardening my eyes at him. "What makes you think you know me? Did all the insults give you a startling insight into my life?"

"Oh, shut up Granger and listen." He stands and walks around the room, stopping at a crystal bottle and pouring some amber liquid into the glass, he gestures to it with his head and I reply that I don't want any. I mean, it's not even eleven in the morning, but I'm sure that being _Draco Malfoy_ must be hard enough work to constitute drinking in the morning because it's not like he passes his time nagging other people and milling around pretending to work.

"I know you." He repeats the statement as he closes the bottle and sets it back onto the marble topped, wooden counter that stands against one of the green walls, I don't respond this time. I just roll my eyes and zip my mouth shut. "And I know that you quit your job at the ministry to work here, but seriously after four years I would have thought that Hermione Granger would have been in a higher position."

I know my hands around each other. "Not everyone can by their way in to places!"

"You said something similar to me in second year." He laughs and I join in.

I think back onto the day where Harry, Ron and I found out that Draco Malfoy was Slytherin's new seeker. "Yeah, I think I've finally run out of material!"

He pushes my shoulder gently, and I realise that he's moved closer to me. Standing in front of my chair with his bum perched on his desk and one hand holding the crystal glass he really does look like a young tycoon. His expensively tailored muggle suit doesn't change the image at all. "Really? I didn't think that could happen!" I didn't think he would ever wear muggle clothes, but they sure as hell look good on him. Too good, I bet he used some sort of charm. "Anyway, why have you not put anything forward for consideration? All of the products have been thought of by someone else and all you do is test them. I bet you have loads of ideas."

"Nothing that you would be interested in anyway." I say and then make to stand, but he pushes me back into the chair with his hands on my shoulders. I'm starting to think that this chair is more of a prison than something to sit on. I mean, when I get in it, it seems like I'll never get out again! "Furthermore, I have to get back to my job of testing other people's ideas, so I have to take my leave." I smile and dodge around his body which is too big for the small space that we have between us.

He lets me walk to the door in silence, but then he opens his mouth and the whole day takes a dive bomb. "If you don't come up with an idea that I intend to continue to the test phase by this time tomorrow, you are fired."

"Yes sir." I almost kill myself before I say it, but I refrain from letting my blood spill onto his carpet and walk down the hall on shaky legs.

* * *

The rest of my day is spent brainstorming ideas and complaining to Ginny by using my mobile phone. A few weeks ago I finally managed to make a breakthrough on the idea of mobile phones with my best female friend and she has figured out how to answer incoming calls. She's still a little iffy on the whole idea of texting, but the world wasn't created in a day, was it? No. So, I'm confident she will crack the idea of texting in no time. At least, I hope because I can't go through the arguments again. I just can't take it.

"Ginny, I don't think I'm going to have a job to come back to!" She decided that reminding me that I should be 'thankful to have a job' just made me crack. And I don't think she liked my attitude, if the dial tone ringing in my ear is anything to go by.

I ring her back and she answers, "You hung up on ME!" my voice escalates in volume pretty quickly and I can just imagine her holding the phone away from her ear. I sigh, "I'm sorry." I say and she sighs on the other end of the phone.

"Are you sure he was being serious?" she asks and I roll my eyes. "I mean, it is Draco Malfoy and he does just _say _things."

"He also fires people for no reason, so I don't think I'm going to be any different." I collect the papers in front of me into a random order and then shove them harshly into a drawer. "He just got me to move into the office and now he's going to kick me out. I mean, that's just cruel."

"Don't you have any ideas?" Oh innocent, naive Ginny.

I stand and make my way to the doors, I've manages to avoid all the new employees today and I have high hopes of continuing this feat as I make my way to the floo fire places on the ground floor. "He's not going to like any of my ideas, is he? This is Draco Malfoy! It's probably just an excuse to fire me." I join a large group in the lifts and head down.

"Don't be so sure, he might surprise you."

"Surprising would be Draco Malfoy growing a new head. Him changing his attitude towards me would be a bloody miracle, and if I'm not mistaken... and I'm not... my life has been missing miracles for a bloody long time." I whisper into the phone; you don't know who can be listening to your conversations. "I mean, if I had an ample amount of miracles floating along behind me, I would not be working for Draco Malfoy in the first place."

She's quiet for a few moments and then she says, "I guess it _is _Draco Malfoy we are talking about."

"Never mind, let's just pretend this isn't happening. I'm good at that." I smile to myself, knowing that that couldn't be farther from the truth. In fact, I'm pretty sure both Ginny and I know that I am going to be up the whole night fretting about my situation.

"Do you need me to come over?" By this point I'm at the floo and queuing to be able to make my way home.

"No, I'm good." I say and then I step into the green flames. They flicker around my body and then I find myself spinning through the tunnel until I find myself stepping out onto the carpet of my home. Parsley – long story – my cat (after Crookshanks found his end due to old age), winds his way around my ankles. "I'll see you this weekend," I say after a brief pause and don't wait for a reply before I shut the phone, scoop up Parsley and make my way to the sofa.

And that is where I stay for the rest of the night. I have no brilliant brain waves. I don't think I could anyway seen as I am half asleep and still dreading tomorrow, but I am still awake enough to hope for some miraculous idea that will just shuffle its way into my brain.

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**So, what do you think? Please review, i love hearing what people think. **


	3. Making Friends Out Of Old Enemies

**I apologise in advance for the super small chapter, but i was away camping and i will upload another, longer chapter either tomorrow or the day after :)**

**I hope you like it and find it somewhere to review even though it's not the longest. **

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I didn't manage to sleep the whole night. I sat there, in silence, while Parsley lay asleep in my lap purring contentedly while he flew through the land of dreams. That land managed to evade me so I spent the night in the cruel reality of the real world. A world where being a good employee means nothing when the boss has been your enemy for eight years.

Though I am not petty enough to blame this on our ongoing feud, I am petty enough to blame this on his obviously cruel nature. He's Draco Malfoy, he does not know how to be a nice person.

Don't get me wrong, people calling me the brightest witch of my age hasn't been lost on me. I have _ideas. _Nevertheless, let's just get something straight here. Draco Malfoy does not care about the welfare of other people. He cares about the money that flies into his pockets and the sluts that fly into his bed. Fin. End of story. At least I'm pretty sure that is the end of the story. I haven't seen any evidence to the contrary thus far, so I am going to continue with my arbitrary judgement of the one and only Draco Malfoy.

I'm not looking forward to the day as I raise myself from the sofa – quite a feat considering that my butt has imprinted on the couch cushions and it has created a sort of suction around the lower portion of my body – and make my way to the shower.

I may be out of a job, but personal hygiene should always be a priority.

* * *

So I'm clean and dressed in a nice red skirt and a cream blouse as I make my way into the office. I arrive as 8: 58. Two minutes late yesterday and two minutes early today. See I do make up for lost time. My feet hurt from the new shoes I decided to try out in case I never get to come back, which was a mistake because I don't think that my toes have ever been in so much pain.

"Good morning Granger." Nott walks in and sits on the corner of my desk. I look at him; he's another one who looks too good for there not to be some sort of magical interference.

I sigh and run my hands through my hair. Ok, I get half way through my hair before they get tangled and I have to disengage them – in front of a laughing Theo. "You think this is funny?" I ask, my face tingeing red and angry steam blowing from my ears – not really, but that would have been a sight wouldn't it? "Do you think that I need someone here to laugh at me right now? Do you think I want someone here who finds amusement through the unfortunate things that happen to me?" I stand up and walk to the door, holding it open and cocking my head towards it to make sure that he got the hint. "I didn't want you to be here. Hell, I could have done without all of you lot here. But I'm trying to make the most of it and you are not helping in the slightest."

I'm cut off mid rant by someone walking through my open door. Nott should be thankful because I had one hell of a speech ready to show him exactly where he stands on my scale of importance.

I turn to look at the black haired female standing in my doorway. I shy away from the glossy curtain that hangs around her face, the make –up that has been perfectly applied to show off all her best features and the way that she has finally grown into her nose. I guess I should say that no more can she be referred to as pug-faced Parkinson.

My self-consciousness kicks in and has me pulling on my skirt to try and get it to cover more of my thighs and I try to bury myself behind my fluffy pile of frizz that rests on my head. "Hermione Granger," She smiles and walks further into the office. _Wow, is it starting to feel crowded in here or what?! _I feel stuffy and I want to run. "I haven't seen you in so long. I have to say that you look amazing."

Why do I feel like she is lying? "Parkinson." I smile back, not really comfortable with trying out the first name basis so I stick to the impersonal usage of her surname.

"I'm sure the friendship will come in due time." I really do hate to ruin the personal bubble of naivety that she decides to live in so I decide not to disclose the information that I probably won't be around long enough to become _friends_.

Nott smiles and saunters to the door, beckoning for Pansy to follow after his retreating figure. And as he proceeds in walking towards the exit, his back never faces me. It's as if he expects me to blow up and curse him or something. I may be reaching the end of my sanity feather, but I'm not there yet. I do have a little more hold on my emotions than he thinks. "Granger's a little stressed this morning so I think it would be best if we let her suffer in her misery alone."

"Give us a minute Theo."Pansy smiles at him and he shuts the door on us. I feel the tension in the room stretching out between us and I'm scared of what she has circling the air spaces in her head. "I know that we never really got on in the past," UNDERSTATEMENT! "But, I really believe that we have all changed since being the kids we were in Hogwarts. I guess that what I am trying to say is that, maybe we could try and have a new start. I accept the fact that us being friends outside of work and floo calling each other every night for a chat is a long shot, but maybe we can start with being civil to each other in the office and see how it goes." She smiles at me. Maybe she really has changed from the bratty schoolgirl slut she used to be.

"I don't think so Pansy." I say and I watch as her face visibly drops into a mix of disappointment and sadness. "It's not that I don't want to be friends with you, in fact I'm all for it if I'm still here at the end of the day, but the fact remains that I don't think I will still be in the office to be friends with you after lunch time."

"Oh, so it's not that you don't want to try and get along." Seriously, I just said I might be out of a job and that is all she can focus on?

"No, that's not it." I say and I return to sitting behind my desk, "But I really have to get ready for a meeting with Malfoy now." I say and I smile at her before I flick my eyes down to the shitty amount of ideas that I have to bring to the table.

She struts to the door, her heels moving silently over the thick woollen rug only to clack loudly when she reaches the area of the cherry coloured wooden floor that is not covered by the blue carpet. "Ok, well I really hope you do stick around because I really would like to try and get to know you better." She opens the door, saunters out and then shuts it loudly behind herself. She doesn't know how to do anything quietly, does she?

"Granger, my office now." I collect my papers from my desk and then follow Malfoy out past my door and into his much more spacious office. "Now, Granger, this is your time to shine."

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**I hope you think it worthy enough for a review :)**

**DracoMalfoy'sPrincess**


	4. Believing In A Change of Draco Malfoy

A**nother short chappie, but i'll update again tomorrow after my first day of school :(. I hope that you guys like it. **

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If I thought the morning was bad, I was stupid and naive. Right now in Draco Sodding Malfoy's office; well this was BAD. What's worse? He looks like this has no effect on him. At all. I don't suppose I thought it would. He always was a bastard. I doubt that I ever really thought he could be a decent bloke. "Granger, you know I don't want to fire you."

"Sure you don't." I mumble; I think it's under my breath but Draco Malfoy makes me realise that it is not.

"Speak up Granger," I look to the ground as he speaks, not able to meet his steel grey eyes as they bore holes into my face, he looks angry and my mind flashes. "I thought you had a little more bravery."

I keep my breathing even while promising myself that I will not let him affect me, because even though I am Hermione Granger, for some reason this man in front of me can make me want to curl into a ball in the corner of the room with only a few words. I hold my shoulders stiff even though I am shaking inside. I think I have been pretty proficient throughout the years of our acquaintance in hiding my combined fear and hatred of him ... ok maybe only the fear; the hatred just seems to roll off my tongue with no hope of holding it back. I can't help the feeling that storms over me. I assume that I haven't felt like this in the last two days because there was always someone around us. Zabini. Theo. Kevin. But now, I am truly alone, the door is shut and I sit here in front of him.

To be fair to myself – and to give_ myself_ a little bit of credit to help boost my self esteem – the fear only developed from the situation at Malfoy Manor during the war. To give _him_ some credit, he didn't actually lay a finger on me, but that was the day that it really struck home as to how much Draco Malfoy would let fly past his nose to follow the path he believed to be of justice.

I do try to find it within myself to forget all these things, but the memories come back and the flash in his eyes brought something to the front of my mind. Something that I haven't thought about for a long time.

In the middle of the night when I am alone, trying to hide from the shadows of my room, they haunt me. His eyes do. But I guess that should be considered normal. It would be hard for anyone to forget the things that I saw. That Harry and Ron saw. Harry confided in me once that he still woke every night out of fear, but he had Ginny until they broke up a year ago. It was a sad event, their break up. But it was right for Ginny and they're still friends, so I guess that's good. Harry's married now. I smile at the thought and then I remember where I am.

He's changed. I try to convince myself that this is the truth. I mean, he has not called me Mudblood or any other rude name. And apart from the threat of being fired he hasn't actually done anything to hurt me. There is the usual banter; our hatred appearing in a humorous form, but that is normal and follows the general rules of our relationship.

For the last two days, I have managed to look at him with a new air. Something that was quite hard for me to do, but I managed it. Until I saw the look in his eyes. The same look that is still sitting there now.

The ice flies from his grey orbs. It's the sort of gaze that has me shivering like I'm sitting on a pile of snow, in the nude. It's the look that throws a thousand knives into my chest and they lodge so I find it hard to breathe. My breaths come in ragged gasps and I hold onto my chair in vane, trying with all my might to block out the bad memories. "Granger?" I look up.

The look is gone. Replaced with one of concern, it's something that I have never seen. Another side of the multilayered Draco Malfoy. I have a strong urge to tell him that he looks much nicer when his eyes are flashing fairy wing silver instead of unemotional metallic grey, but I keep my mouth shut and focus myself on his kind eyes. The new eyes of the new Draco Malfoy. Though he doesn't let anyone see this side of himself, it doesn't seem unnatural for him to show it to me. He seems at ease and that fact confuses me.

"As I was saying, Granger, I don't want to fire you. But it would be unfair for me to keep you on without you being seen as an active member of the group." His voice is softer now and I force myself to pretend he is a different person. Maybe the situation has not improved between us because of my attitude. It could be that I have been blocking myself off from this side of Draco Malfoy. Maybe _I'm _the one who needs to change.

He looks at me, the kind, personal gaze never fading and I am relieved from the lack of hatred there. "I understand Malfoy." I nod, my strength coming back to my body as I focus on a scratch that mars the beauty of the ancient desk that his fingers rest upon.

"So," he continues, his hands tap the desk and I find myself entranced by the way his fingers move. The long, delicate – yet not feminine – hands tap a rhythm that I recognise but don't fully remember. My eyes inch up his wrist. A wrist that is bared to the world by the way that he has rolled up the sleeves of his black dress shirt. Another muggle clothing item to show the drastic changes of the snivelling boy I remember from Malfoy Manor and the man sitting here in front of me. The man breathing the same air as a Muggleborn and not saying anything snide about it. A man with a clean forearm.

I start, but then I see the slight shimmering of a disillusionment charm. Something I hadn't seen before now. "I cover it up." He whispers when he sees where I'm looking. I forgot that I was supposed to reply. I also forgot that it is rude to stare. "I can't bear to look at it, so I pretend it's not there. It's stupid, I know. I should be constantly reminded of the bad things I did to people... to you." He stops and I swallow a lump in my throat, by the looks of it he is too. I play with the hem of my skirt and he runs his finger along the scar in the table that separates us. "I've never had the courage to say this before, but the look in your eyes when you looked at me just now makes me realise that I have to. I'm so sorry, for everything that I did. And as for trying to forget, I am truly sorry for that too, Hermione. I should remember every day what I made you feel."

"You called me Hermione." I whisper and he smiles but stops short of laughing. "I'm sorry too. I don't hold anything against you. Yes, you were stupid and naive and a bit of an idiot... but you were misguided and I know that you have changed." I stop talking, swallowing tears and breathing deeply to try and stop my voice from cracking. "You shouldn't have to remember any of it. I can't imagine what you went through being so close to someone like _him, _but if you ever need someone to talk to, I'm here."

"I'll remember that." I swipe at my eyes and he gives me a watery smile. "I'm glad that's out of the way." He showers me with warmth as he smiles once again and I find myself smiling back. "So, back to the issue of the job, unless you give me a reason to keep you, I'm sorry but you'll have to leave."

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**I know that this is another short chapter, but we see some breakthrough in the Dramione Relationship that hashes everything out into the open.**

**Away with the bad memories and onto the future. **

**Please Review. **


	5. My Pride Is Worth More Than My Job!

**Just so we are clear, for the sake of this story Lupin, Tonks and Sirius are still alive and I haven't yet decided on Snape, but i'll let you know. **

**Hope you like the chapter and please please review. it makes me faster with my updates and inspires me to review. :)**

**Oh and because i have forgotten in all the other chapters this is the disclaimer for the story. **

**I do NOT own anything from the books, though i wish i do. :)**

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"So Granger?" he taps the desk in that familiar rhythm again and I look to the floor. I focus on the edge of my shoes and tap the heels on the wooden slats so I make a noise of my own before I can be swallowed up into myself. "Whenever you are ready."

I begin, I talk and talk. Idea after idea. Shake of head after shake of head refusing my thoughts and throwing poorly concealed – who am I kidding, they were blatantly obvious and I wouldn't expect anything else from Malfoy... even if he is new and improved – insults.

I gulp down a large amount of bile that is threatening to jump out of my throat and throttle him for me, and turn my eyes to the door, willing the time to pass so that I can die of humiliation alone. "Granger, I have to admit that I thought you weren't so vocal because people were pushing your ideas down, but this meeting has just told me everything I need to know... you have no ideas that are worthy of pursuing." I go to stand but he bats his hand through the air making me settle once more into the uncomfortable, tense atmosphere caused by the Malfoy heir. "I always thought that you were the cleverest girl that I had ever met, but maybe that just doesn't extend past school work, this fact disappoints me Granger."

"I knew already that my ideas weren't going to appeal to you, just like they didn't appeal to your predecessor. And this fact doesn't bother me, do you know why?" I'm getting worked up and I have to control my temper, gone is the frail girl from five minutes ago. The look in his eyes and my strangling grip on my wand has given me a new sense of power. A sense of power that I should never have lost in the first place. "Because I can't conform to the stupid products that the companies like this make. You have so much money. Money that someone like me would kill for, but not to gain off other people like you do. You have all these funds and resources and all you can think about is 'what type of mascara will sell the best' and 'how can we convince people to buy this blusher... oh yes, we'll price it times a hundred and then call it designer'. You could help so many people and magical creatures but all you people think about is yourselves and that is why you don't have a chance to fire me... because I quit!"

* * *

I hold my head high and stride to my office with a straight back. My brain hurts. The last few days have been such an emotional rollercoaster of uncertainty that I can hardly think about it without breaking into tears and that fact just makes me hate myself more.

I ignore his calls as I wave my wand and make everything stuff into my small beaded bag that I bought to work for just this reason, though I never imagined that it would be my choice to leave.

I grab my back and then stride past all the employees on the floor, nodding to Zabini as I pass him in the corridor and then making my way into the stairwell that will help me avoid the lifts to the floo entry.

Clamber through the green flames that dance around my ankles before rising and claiming my body in a swirl of emerald before whisking me away to my own home.

Parsley greets me, wrapping himself around my calves and escorting me from the fireplace and into the kitchen which is where I decide I am due a long, heavy drink.

I pour a large glass of white wine and take the bottle with me into the living room. I plan to forgo dinner, preferring instead to indulge in copious amounts of alcohol to sooth my frazzled nerves, but then there is a rumbling. My stomach is not content with this idea and so, I make my way back to the kitchen on weary feet. I don't find anything that will satisfy my appetite; therefore I decide that it is time to call in reinforcements. "Ginny, I need you." I say into the phone, putting on my best teary voice and sniffling slightly to make sure she rushes over. "Bring pizza and ice cream." I say and then snap the phone shut before she can say anything else. Better to leave her mad than to risk going without food. My belly just couldn't handle the thought.

* * *

"You used me to get food!" Ginny bursts through the flames, the flicks of green smoke jumping from her body and making her look like a cross between a runway model and a dragon. Now all she needs to perfect is her fire breathing.

"I really do need you, Gin." I say, but I grab the box from her hands which sort of ruins the effect.

She huffs but goes to store the pink ice cream box in the freezer anyway and I flick onto a movie that has just started as I wait for her. "What is this pressing matter, then?" her tone sounds angry, but this is just a Ginny thing and I am not fazed.

"I quit my job this afternoon." I tell her as I munch my way through my second slice of pizza hopping that the delicious substance will improve my foul mood.

"Because of the whole 'I'll fire you' thing?" She asks as she reaches into the box pulling out a slice and dragging most of the cheese from another slice after it.

"Yep," reaching for the bottle of wine I pour us both generous glasses and then hand one to her, "I had this huge rant at him though before I left, I basically told him that he was a selfish bastard."

She laughs and I join in, not really seeing the funny side in this at all but deciding anyway that it would be better for me not to brood on the whole situation. I have a way of making everything much worse than it is. "I hope not in such words." She's still giggling as she reaches back into the box. I hold my glass to my lips.

"I don't think so." I say and we both start laughing again before my laughter turns into tears.

I personally blame the alcohol.

By the time I have eaten my way through half my house, it is six o'clock in the afternoon. "Oh, I told mum that you were coming to dinner tonight by the way." Ginny mentions, shutting her eyes and resting her head back onto the couch cushions. Her red hair sort of blends into the colour of the pillow and I have a hard time following it through my drunken haze.

"You let me drink all of this knowing that I had to be ready to go to you mothers tonight?" I hiss, "Some friend you are!"

"I have a sobering tonic in my bag, maybe you should take it." Her eyes are still shut and I have half a mind to punch her in the face – again I blame the alcohol as it makes you do stupid things – but I feel along the floor with my hand instead and find the small crystal vile. I swallow it all down, it burns on the way but I feel so much better when it has worked its way into my system.

* * *

"Ron," I smile as I make my way into the living room of the burrow. These sorts of meetings were not unusual. Ever since her kids had moved away, the last of which being Ginny when she got a job and moved into a flat of her own, Mrs. Weasley had been craving the feeling of having everyone she loves around her and so the meetings became commonplace.

I quite enjoy the dinners. It gives us all a chance to catch up and find out what has been going on in each other's lives. Tonight only one person is missing. Sirius Black, the most outspoken and noticeable member of our group, is obviously absent, reaffirmed through the shouts coming from the little boy at the end of the table. Teddy Lupin. Five years old and clinging to his mother with all his might. Tonks tries to calm him, but it seems like the lack of the marauder has somehow hurt his feelings.

Lupin walks over and shoves a glass of milk with a blue straw into Tonks' outstretched hand, and she in turn pushes it into the mouth of the little boy, effectively shutting him up for all of two minutes before he grabs it and throws it away from his body. "I don't want it!" His little scream causes all attention in the room to turn to him. Well, that and the crash of the glass housing his bedtime milk as it tumbles to the floor.

"What's up, little man?" I turn away from Ron and walk towards the child in Tonks arms.

"Aunty Mione." He sniffles. I don't remember how the title of Aunty came about, but I guess I was just there so much in the first few years of his life that it just stuck and he has never grown out of it. "Where's Siri?"

I pull him from Tonks' arms and she flexes them slightly, stretching out her sore muscles. "I don't know, little man." I say and he blinks his mud pie eyes trying to push the tears away.

"He promised me that he would read me a bedtime story and he's not here."

"I'm sure he'll turn up." I smile, but it seems to be lost on the boy who can't stop feeling neglected. The tears start again and I hold him tightly trying to sooth him. "How about I read to you?"

He shakes his head at me, "But you always read me boring books, Aunty Mione." It takes a lot to make me hold back the hurt look.

"They are not boring sweetie," I tell him softly, "They are called non – fiction and they are about real life." Harry laughs and I turn to look at him, my eyes hardening. He's sitting in the corner next to his wife of six months Sofia. Harry's the same as he always was. Shaggy black hair that falls into his eyes, lightning shaped scar on his forehead which is covered by his dipping fringe and a strong, thick build. Sofia seems to be the love of his life and after witnessing them together I realise that Ginny and Harry breaking up was definitely a good thing.

Their relationship became pretty destructive to the end and a day didn't pass when they weren't biting the others head off for some reason or other. They are still friends. I guess they have to be with Harry being Ron's best friend and all. "They are not _boring." _I hiss at him, my defensive tone seems to make everyone laugh and I blush before continuing. "They are _educational." _

"I agree, Granger." I look up; Sirius Black stands in the corner of the room watching us all, not caring in the slightest that he is late and had tormented his best friend's son. Gone are the days of the food deprived, Azkaban escapee because Sirius Black has filled out impeccably. And I say this as a completely indifferent, third party observer when I say that Sirius Black is hot. Before everyone starts to panic, I don't have a silly little crush on him. I just recognise that he is not ugly.

"I guess you are saved from your educational story time for tonight." I sigh and I let the jumpy boy off my lap.

"Don't worry Hermione; I'll let you read _educational _books to Harry Junior when he arrives." Harry smiles at me – though I can tell it's a 'laughing at you' smile – and he holds onto Sofia's stomach with his right hand. Sofia's three and a half months pregnant. She has a barely there bump, but at least she has one. I'm twenty three and haven't had a long term relationship since Ron in our last year at Hogwarts. I'm further from having a baby right now than from walking on the moon.

"You don't deserve educational books Harry Potter." I say and I flounce from the room into the kitchen.

* * *

Lupin is sitting there holding a mug of coffee and flipping through a file."Are you alright, Hermione?" He asks as his eyes flickup. He looks exactly like he did five years ago. It seems that having a boisterous son has done nothing to age him. He smiles, his eyes crinkling slightly as he folds the file and pushes it away from himself. "I could use a break anyway."

I sit down at one of the mismatches chairs and pour myself a mug of black coffee from the pot on the table. I take a gulp, the bitter taste tingling my taste buds and just this small thing makes me smile. "I quit my job today." I say and he doesn't respond, instead he just lets me carry on at my own pace.

"Draco Malfoy took over the company and he gave me an ultimatum, some up with a good idea or be fired. I quit before he could fire me." He looks at me, his gaze disapproving and I rush to defend myself. "I tried my best. I tried to conform and gave him all the ideas I thought he'd want, but he didn't like them. So I blew up. I told him that he should think less about superficial things and more about helping people."

He sighs and places his hand atop of my own, I look up into his eyes and I feel the depressed wave building again. My life officially sucks. "Did you give him Hermione Granger's ideas or the ideas you though Draco Malfoy would want?"

"It doesn't matter now, does it?" I shoot back and I sigh, taking a deep gulp of my coffee.

He looks back down to the file, pulling the pages open and running a hand through his mousey hair. "Maybe you should go back and show him the real Hermione Granger."

I shake my head and almost laugh, "No chance in hell of that happening, if I have something it is pride and I'm not losing that to appease Draco Sodding Malfoy."

"Pride can get you in some sticky situations, Granger." Sirius walks into the room and steals the cup of coffee from my hands, I begin to protest but he has already downed the whole thing and stuck it back in front of me before I can even open my mouth fully. He flicks the back of my head with the spoon he stole from my mug and then walks out of the door.

"Honestly, there is no way I am going to go and grovel to Draco Malfoy." I stand up and walk to the door. "Hell would have to freeze over first."

* * *

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	6. New Beginnings

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* * *

It is nine o'clock in the morning. A morning that I used to be at work. But I'm not. I'm at home on the couch. With Parsley. At least he's happy. He's purring like it's Christmas and I am crying like...well...like my cat died. Not over my job, though. There was a really sad film on the TV, so yep...not because of the job...not because of the job. Ok, maybe a little bit about the job. No money coming in. I have to start looking for a job.

I have to start looking for a job. And I am sitting here on the couch. I should probably get moving. Nah, the movie is extremely addictive so I think I'm just going to wait until it's finished... or maybe the next two are finished. I don't know what my issue is, I think I'm just seriously depressed and can't be arsed to get moving. But, my rent is due next week and though I have money in the bank, I know that it is not going to last forever; therefore this is the reason that I move my butt. Actually, the prospect of going without Sky TV has my arse moving faster that a Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes Firework.

So this is where Lupin finds me. Heaving myself ungraciously from the couch, slipping my fluffy slippers on to my feet and trying to continue watching the end of the film all at once... therefore the ending result is not pretty and not suitable for viewing ... but Lupin doesn't seem to notice my little debacle with the slipper that won't fit on my foot and instead just pops his head through the Floo and yells my name to gain my attention.

I used to think that having a floo in my house would result in a lack of privacy and then I found out that you could turn it on and off. Maybe I should start keeping it off a little more. "Hermione!" I look up after finally managing to get the slipper onto my foot – I'm pretty sure that it is my tiredness and my foot hasn't miraculously grown four sizes in the space of an hour – and I see his thinly haired head poking into my living room. I have to admit that I have never really gotten used to the idea of heads poking in and out of houses that are more than several miles apart. I don't really understand how it works and therefore I will not be trying it any time soon, but it was a nice surprise to see Lupin and the smile he wore made me feel even better.

"Lupin," I walk nearer to the fire place and sit down on a lumpy, burgundy footstool (which I really have to change because it definitely doesn't match the rest of the furniture in the room), Lupin's eyes following me the whole time. "What can I do for you?"

"I have a Job interview for you."

He sits there, mouth pulled into a smile like he's waiting for me to jump around singing. I almost do, but I manage to stop myself before I get to that point and instead I rush closer to the fire and say. "Really?"

He nods, his hair flipping into his eyes and a hand magically appearing in the flames to push it away. "Yeah, I was working with this contractor this morning and they asked if I knew anyone who would be good for this position and I thought of you." I laugh, not believing my luck.

"You did?" I question, just to make sure that I actually heard him properly. Then I pinch myself to make sure that I am really conscious and not having a cruel dream that I am about to wake up from. "Really?"

"Yes, Hermione." He nods and after telling me all the details, retracts his head from my fireplace with a pop. The green flames die down and it would be like he was never here, but I still have the funny feeling of satisfaction and gratefulness floating around in my stomach.

* * *

I squish my body into a size twelve dress that I bought last Christmas in hope that my diet would work, though considering the effort that I have invested in my diet – namely none – I am overjoyed that I even managed to get the zip closed, let alone fit the tight beige dress over my curves.

"Urg!" I grunt as I finally manage to close the back – admittedly I can't really breathe, but I am willing to forgo all sense of reason if I manage to look amazing; furthermore, I am also going to pray through the heavens in hope that I don't drop anything and have to bend over. My blazer follows the dress. Thankfully, this item of clothing fits me a little more adequately so it slips on rather easily.

The entire ensemble mashes together to give a quite a pleasant look and I decide that it is probably for the best if I try and tame the bush on my head for once. The cupboard over the bathroom sink holds my rarely used – ok, never used – Sleakzies Hair Tamer; an unopened purple container, cylindrical in shape with a golden lid. I prize the lid open and it gives a slight, satisfying 'pop', the green gunk inside (looking somewhat like troll bogey) is rather less satisfying. So much so, in fact, that it almost puts me off spreading in through my hair.

Curls still wet from the shower I took not thirty minutes ago, I spread the product onto my fingers – it feels rather like Troll snot too! – and then I run it through my hair.

The effect is almost instantaneous. There is a purple, fizzing sparkle that dances a circle around my hair and then vanishes with a slight sizzle. I watch the entire process in the mirror, gasping as I watch my hair go from fizzy garden bush to soft mermaid curls in the space of ten seconds. I grab hold of the purple tub and stare at it in awe. I really should start trusting Ginny's instinct more.

* * *

My journey to the company is relatively short. I catch a bus and then walk for a grand total of twenty seconds; though my feet were protesting already due to the heels that I decided to stuff my feet into. However, a quick cushioning charm on the balls of my feet got rid of the worst of it.

"Thank you," I smile to the twenty something bus driver sitting behind the glass window as I make my way off the 33 and into the tarred over street, almost falling as I nearly miss the six inch step from the street to the pavement.

"You alright love?" Someone grabs hold of my arm and I look up into a pair of startlingly blue eyes connected to a chiselled face and an even more impressive body. I retract my arm from his grip and move away, flattening out my skirt and patting my hair self consciously.

I smile towards him, lifting my bag onto my shoulder and nodding vaguely in his direction, too embarrassed to say a word. Moving further away, he turns from my and once again I am alone on the street. Mulling over my life and this new job opportunity.

Getting into the building is a bit m ore of a struggle. There are these turnstile things that need a swipe ID card – which I don't have – so I have to wander aimlessly around until I find a man who can point me in the direction of Admin. Then I have to introduce myself to the curly haired woman behind the cherry desk; who nods and smiles before turning to the computer sitting in front of her. They have computers here. I'm pretty sure that this is a first for the Wizarding World.

"Hermione Granger. 5th floor. Wait outside the office please." As she speaks I watch her mouth move. She has over glossed her lips so much that it looks more like she has over_glooped_.

They stick together and pull apart like they are covered in strawberry pink chewing gum, she wears a matching v-neck cashmere jumper – I have seen the salary, it must be cashmere! – and the shortest skirt I have ever seen (Also a violent shade of pink.) It is an overload for my eyes and I find myself having to blink way more than normal when I turn my gaze to her. Or maybe that could just be the complete horrendousness of the outfit.

"Follow me." She is already half way down the corridor and I have to jog – teetering in my heels the whole way – to keep her in sight before she starts turning corners. I walk in her shadow until we reach the fifth floor. It's a _long _way! "Wait here."

* * *

The second the door opens I feel faint. Like the 'this can't be happening... my life sucks... warn the devil because hell has finally frozen over' kind of faint.

"How...How can you be here?" I start to curse Lupin in my mind; nothing ever goes right for me, does it?! I'm led into a large office by a pale, tall, muscular, blond haired man. You are getting the point here, right?

He flicks his blond hair out of his eyes and looks down at the file in front of me. "This is my company as well." He smiles and then flicks through my folder looking at my CV. I watch his eyebrows as they fly up his forehead.

"I'm sorry to have bothered you Mr. Malfoy. I realise that this was a mistake now and I will take my leave. I hope that you find the person who you are looking for."

I'm already halfway to the door when he speaks, his voice is gravelly and it sounds like it takes a really effort to force out. "You were right." I almost choke on the air that I pull into my lungs and then I fall into the door.

I know. So much for a dignified exit. I find myself clutching my forehead and falling backwards through the air towards the ground. I swear that the door came out of NOWHERE! It just appeared!

He's out of his chair before I can even start falling though and his hands clamp around my waist to keep my body away from the floor. "Thanks." I say and I push him away from my body.

"You look good, Granger." He winks and escorts me back to my seat. I sit there in shock, mouth hanging open like a dog until I regain my senses that I should never have lost in the first place. Come On, Hermione Granger!

"What-?" I admit it is not the best, sassiest or even smartest thing that I could possible have said, but it is the first thing that pops into my mind... and out it flew. Now, I can think of several things that would have been better suited to the situation. For example... "I hardly think that is appropriate." or "I won't stand for this sort of behaviour, Mr. Malfoy." or even "Shut up!" but these phases were not the first thing into my mind and therefore I guess that I have to stick with, "What-?"

"I said-" I don't let him finish though. Now that my normal snarkiness has returned and I am not at a loss for what to say, I decide that I had better retort now or forever hold my silence... and I am not the greatest at holding my tongue. "When you talk to me like that, it doesn't make me feel good, Malfoy." I tell him, looking at him in the eyes and holding his gaze firmly.

"Alright," He sighs, "I apologise Granger."

"Hermione." I reply.

* * *

"If you still want to work for me after this, Granger, You may have your old job back." I look at him - I have to admit here, that my eyes may have teared up a little. "I have decided to move in a new direction with the company. Your idea really, though I am going to take the credit." He laughs and I join in. He wouldn't be Draco Malfoy if he didn't take credit for things he didn't achieve. "I have decided on a new direction. A direction that will help people and magical creatures instead of just benefiting from them. Though, I can't be completely selfless, I still have to make money."

I nod and look to the ground, my cheeks tingeing red once more and without my hair to hide behind I feel exposed.

I guess I might as well push my luck a little here. "I have another idea that will boost publicity for your company and will help gain more attention over the idea that you are going to bring into your company, if you are interested."

He smirks at me; I indulge myself and imagine that he is flashing me a rare smile instead of a smirk. "Shoot Granger."

Steeling myself, I nod, my hair flipping into my eyes and I have to use my hand to push it out. "Well, as you know I used to work in the Department of Magical Creatures and their Welfare at the Ministry of Magic, but then I quit."

"Just like you quit my job." He says it like a fact. Not like he is angry or annoyed with me. Just a statement of what happened.

"Anyway." I decide to continue but I was stupid to think I could make it through an entire sentence without an interruption from Malfoy, but I hold my tongue and listen to his question.

"Why did you quit?"

"From your company?" I ask, my eyebrows raising; I fear that they will recede so far into my hairline that I will never find them again! "I think you know they reason Malfoy." I hiss, I'm about to stand and walk out (I seem to have been doing this quite regularly over the past few days, maybe I should try to stick around a little more!)

"At your other company." He speaks with a monotone, I sink back into my seat. I can feel my face burning bright red like an LED light, but I breathe deeply before continuing and I begin to feel the heat cooling off from my inflamed cheeks.

"What we were doing was always being looked over and I got too little money to make a difference myself. I mean, I got quite a sum from the Merlin First Class award for my help in the War and I got a house from that as well so I didn't have worry about housing costs, but I didn't have enough to live on and make a difference with."

I stop talking and Malfoy looks over his interlaced fingers at me, "So you decided that the best thing to do would be to find a job with more money and save enough money to go ahead with whatever harebrained project you were planning?"

"It's not a harebrained project!" I say indignantly, "This is something that is really important to me and if you are just going to poke fun then–"

I don't get the chance to finish my sentence because he is back to the idea of cutting me off. I have high suspicions that he does it to give himself the feeling of importance because I can't get mad at him without the prospect of having NO MONEY getting hung over my head. Every second in his time is like being on one of those carnival games where you don't know if the person throwing the ball will hit the little metal square that will send you plunging into the ice cold water below. I think it's called a dunk tank, but I'm not entirely sure. Anyway, Draco Malfoy is effectively determining if the ball hits the metal disk. "Swallow your pride Granger."

I am starting to believe that this is all some twisted joke? Maybe it's one of those TV shows. But Malfoy wouldn't know what a TV show was. Then again, he did have computers in his Lobby and there is one sitting right on his desk. Or maybe this is some sort of Karma for something bad that I have done. I did tell Ginny she looked ugly in that dress the other weekend. And I did suggest that Sirius needed to grow up a few weeks back. Maybe this is some sort of lesson to tell me that I am being too mean to them! But Ginny tells me I look ugly all the time _and _Sirius _knows _that he needs to grow up! Either way, if this is a lesson, I have learn so let me get back to my DRACO MALFOY FREE LIFE!

"Well, if you would just let me finish!" I spit and then rethink my aggressive posture and I shrink back into my chair so as not to give him any more excuses when I am on such a small rope in the first place. "You remember S.P.E.W, right?"

"I thought it was 'spew'."

"Oh shut up." I laugh and throw a pen from the table at him jokingly. He smiles properly for once and I almost bring it to his attention, but they are so rare and shy that I don't want to scare the pleasant facial expression away. "I started S.P.E.W, the organisation to free house elfs that didn't want to be free, and you joined the inquisitorial squad a year later. Personally, I believe that if one of us had bad judgement it was you!" I decide not to mention the Bad Judgement Elephant in the room and let it slip by.

I continue talking after I catch the pen that he throws back at me. "Anyway, I finally realised that house elves don't want help, but there are other magical beings that do need help."

"And you want to help them?"

"By opening a sanctuary where they can–"

He holds up a hand to stop me speaking and I am so sure that I am going to be fired that I am already out of my seat and half way to the door by the time he starts speaking, "Sit back down, Granger." I flush, feeling the heat tickle my hairline, and then make my way back to the seat, "I like your idea." He pulls out a new piece of paper and starts writing on it.

"How much will you need? I know, I'll stick a few million galleons in a vault and give you an access card, if you need more you can come and ask. The only things that I am going to need are the details and all the opening information. The whole thing is going to be covered by the _Daily Prophet_ so you have to make sure that everything is camera friendly and I'll let you choose a team from the office. I'll give you a new floor and hire on new people to take your spaces until the project is complete."

He summons an owl and attaches a note telling me that it is going to deliver the letter to Gringotts that will make all the monetary arrangements. "You have a year before I step in and take over, though all arrangements will be passed through me before you give them the go ahead."

I stand, "Hold on Malfoy." I can tell through feeling that my eyes are stretched wide and I try to regain control over them in the few seconds I have before I start talking once more, "Everything is going so fast, you are just going to give me millions of galleons to go ahead and create something that I just told you about today?" My tone is disbelieving and I can't help but feel that it is a joke as he starts to laugh.

It's a masculine sound that doesn't seem to fit with him. Not that he isn't masculine, but the idea of him laughing properly is just odd in general. "Granger, I wouldn't even notice if someone took that money from my account." He smiles and I realise that he is back to the cocky smirk that makes me want to slap him. It's this kind of derogatory smirk that just makes me feel stupid even though I asked a totally normal question. "If it makes you feel any better, it's not coming from my personal vault. It's coming from the business one."

I don't know what to say, "I will take your silence as acceptance and I'm going to need the names of the people you are choosing."

"Theo, Pansy and Kevin." I say and he nods.

"I'm expecting this to run smoothly with you in charge Granger, or is this a mistake?"

I shake my head, "No sir."

I start towards the door after he waves his hand to dismiss me, "Oh and Malfoy." He looks up from his desk. "Thanks for seeing me, I know Lupin asked you to."

"No problem Granger." I nod curtly and walk out.

* * *

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	7. Even Hard Men Get Scared

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Malfoy gave me the weekend off. I took the two days free from worry to look after myself a little. Actually, I took the first day to look after myself. The second day I spent tracking down Ginny and locating the shop that she bought the hair product that fizzed my hair into perfection, then I stripped the shelf bare and spent a little fortune making sure that I will never run out of it again. It has an expiration date so I only bought how much I will be able to use in the next year, but I'm sure that I will re buy!

I floo into the burrow when it chimes eight o'clock on Sunday evening. It's the time that I arranged with Molly to arrive, and when I do everyone is sitting in the living room. Teddy smiles and waves at me from the floor where he is playing with his lego on the worn carpet. A carpet that I'm sure has been there since the first time that I ever stepped foot in the burrow. There is still the burnt out patch from the time that Fred and George decided to try out their 'new and improved, closed space safe' fireworks. Evidently the carpet and Fred's eyebrows agreed that they were not 'closed space safe' and Molly Weasley never trusted one of their inventions inside the house again.

Teddy sits on the carpet, right on top of the singed away fibres and holds up three red blocks to show me the tower that he has made. The lego was a gift from Mr. Weasley for his fifth Christmas and has been a permanent fixture on the burrows living room floor since then, "Aunty Mione, come and see!" I smile down at him and then make an impressed sound before stepping around his little frame and walking over to Harry and Ron.

"Mione." Ron smiles as I join them in the corner of the brightly lit room. "I heard you got your job back." He smiles and gives me a nudge with his shoulder. Though our break up was a little messy – due to the fact that everyone but us thought that we were destined to be together and wouldn't stop adding their unwanted opinions into our relationship – things between Ron and I have never really been strange. Like Harry and Ginny's break up, it was for the best and was mutual therefore everything went smoothly after people stopped putting their feet into our issues.

"Yeah, I guess Lupin went around and told everyone." I mutter, but judging by the vigorous shaking of Ron's head I have a right to believe that I am sorely mistaken.

"There was an article in the profit about the new direction of Malfoy Industries; you were on the front page." I sigh, dropping my head and picking my nails as he looks me over.

I finally meet his gaze and return it steadily, "You are taking this all rather well. I would have assumed that you would have at least attempted to talk me out of working with the ferret." I flick him with my finger and he pretends that I have hurt him, rubbing his hand over his arm and wincing.

Finally, he stops pretending and starts to speak again. "Firstly, I assume that he has changed. We were all stupid kids-!"

I interrupt before I realise that he is actually trying to be sincere and supportive – not making a joke of the situation. "Speak for yourself Ron!"

"And we all saw things that changed us." He continues as if I hadn't even opened my mouth, thankfully, because he is really trying to have a serious moment – a rarity for Ron – and I don't want to scare it away before it has time to blossom and, maybe (though this could be wishful thinking), stick around.

"So if you think he is a good guy, I trust you." He smirks, normal Ron is back. "Plus, you never listen to me anyway, so why waste my breath trying?"

"Good point!" I smile and we turn to some of the people around us. Sirius sits alone in the only dimly lit corner of the room.

"Sirius," He looks up at me. I have to say that Sirius really is one of the best people that I have ever met. There is so much that we see eye to eye on and he can be so adamant about the things that he believes in, which makes having an argument with him always a blast. He cares about us all and he would stick his neck out on the line for any one of his friends any day. But, then there are the times when we don't see things in the same light, like the time when he acts more like a five year old that his actual age. I'm assuming that his immaturity might be the root of the issue here, but I may just be being judgemental.

"Granger." He sighs, slouching back in his chair and lifting his feet off the one in front to allow me room to move around his lean body.

I pick at the peeling wicker of the chair seat and steel myself for some form of anger, depression or the two mixed together. "You look like you need someone to talk to."

"I slept with this girl," This is not much of a surprise. This happens probably every other night. I overheard a conversation between Harry, Ron, Lupin and Sirius once and this sort of topic came up, let me tell you now that I still want to burn my ears when I think about it!

I don't tell him that I have no experience in this field.

I am THAT twenty three year old. The one that has no experience WHAT SO EVER. But that's ok. It doesn't mean that I am undesirable. It just means that I am one of those girls who should wait for marriage. It will make me more special. At least, this is what I tell myself to reduce my depression because I am _twenty three _years old and lacking the sexual experience that Lavender Brown probably gained at eleven! Ok, slight exaggeration, but she _was _a slut. And I hate her. This combination equals borderline prostitute in my eyes.

I can feel my eyebrows inching up my forehead and they might have disappeared a some point because Sirius starts to give me the look. He misinterprets my look for a judgemental one instead of what it really was - self pitying! - and grimaces at me. "I know what you think of my '_frolicking!_'" He uses a word that I frequently use to describe his man whorish ways and sort of snarls it out at me, "And how you think that I need to grow up."

"I don't think you need to grow up Sirius." I say, cocking my head to the side and scrutinising him in a way that makes him squirm in his seat. I cut off his, "That makes you look so much like McGonagall." And continue, "Ok, I do!" I concede and shrug my shoulders in a 'what can you do?' sort of way.

"Hermione I really just need you to hear me out." His eyes implore with me in a way that his words cannot and I find myself nodding – despite how hard I find it to hold myself back from passing my opinions over situations. "Without criticising me in any way, until I have finished!"

"Yes. Alright."

He pulls his feet from the dark wood chair and rests his elbows upon his knees. "Hermione I did something stupid." I bite my tongue to stop 'as usual' or 'nothing different then' slipping out between my teeth and nod for him to continue. I'd have never of guessed, but stopping yourself from commenting in a snarky way is harder than you'd expect.

"I knocked up this girl." The next sentence that escapes his lips makes me gasp and shudder. "I'm scared Hermione!" Never have I ever heard Sirius Black confess to some sort of weakness. This is the sort of 'Quick, alert the media because the planets have moved out of alignment' kind of confession!

I probably look like I am constipated because I'm struggling so hard to not ask any questions. "You may speak." Sirius motions to me with his hand and I let out a breath that I must have been holding forever because I instantly start gasping.

"Sirius, by girl you mean consensual adult, right?"

"God, Hermione! Who do you think I am?" He tinges pink and throws his hands through his hair, grabbing and pulling until it think it's about to rip from his head. I immediately wish that I can re-swallow my words to stop them from passing my lips. "Yes. She's thirty five."

I sigh. Thank Merlin! "Well, that is one issue gone." I fly into business mode, sorting problems out in my head before I can trouble Sirius with anything else. He already looks like a load has been lifted just by telling me – though I think the load may have just transferred straight from his shoulder to mine, because suddenly I feel a lot heavier. "If she is going to keep this baby, will you want it?"

"Of course Hermione." He clutches his head in his hands, "But I don't know what to do. When she told me I just got up and walked away!"

"Sirius!" I stare at him, shocked. "That is no way to treat a lady of her condition! You must floo her this instant!" his head flops down and his side cut fringe flicks over into his deep brown eyes. There is a long silence. A silence which I think he takes to collect his thoughts. I don't know what I would do if I were him. I try to imagine Ron handling this, the idea being so laughable that I have to struggle to hold it in because I doubt that bursting out in to fits of laughter at this moment would do anything to help Sirius' mental state.

"So, what's she like?"

"She's pretty." He smiles as he speaks, "Long dark hair, big blue eyes and she's a healer so she's super smart – not as smart as you, but almost." He picks at a loose thread on his trousers. "But Hermione, I'm not in love with her, I'm not even nearly good enough for her so I wouldn't be surprised if she didn't want me in my child's life-!"

"Sirius!" I snap at him, pulling him out of his pity party for one and snapping him back to reality, "Stop that right now!" I let my hand smack down to the table and it creates rather an audible bang that seems to wake him up a little. "If she's anywhere as smart as you say she is, she will be able to see how amazing you are, and she'll know that your child will need its father." I speak softly and reach over the table to touch his hand gently.

"Ok, you're right. You always are." He makes to get to his feet and I stand along side him. He towers over me, Sirius is super tall even for a guy, and he grabs onto my shoulders. "I'll floo her right away." He starts to walk away and then turns back as if he just remembers to tell me something. "Can we keep this between you an me?" I nod. "Thanks Hermione." I smile and watch him walk away until he has disappeared into the kitchen.

* * *

**Calimocho: Yes the 'third party outsider' part is from she's the man. i didn't realise until you said it, though i knew i wasn't cool enough to come up with it myself :) **

**Thanks for reviewing :)and please continue to review, it makes me want to continue :) **


	8. The Snake And The Lion

**Thank you to everyone who reviewed, I hope that you all like this chapter and please review :)**

* * *

It's Monday morning. I wake early at seven o'clock, finding the alarm clock that's ringing before shoving it from the desk and curling back under the covers. they are so warm and comfy that I can't help it. It really is one of _those _mornings. The next time that I burrow my way back out into the world is at eight forty two and I have to complete my whole morning routine in fifteen minutes, using the remaining three to jump into the green flames and floo into the office.

I take the stairs two at a time and make my way onto Draco's floor, my heels clicking on the wooden flooring as I walk. "Good morning, Malfoy." I poke my head into his office and smile at him from the doorway. He doesn't beckon me in.

He looks up from his work, flipping his hair out of his eyes with his fingers and smirking at me. "Morning, Granger."

I walk into the office and sit at his desk. The air between us is less tense than it has ever been which means that I can finally relax comfortably into the high backed chairs.

Draco smiles up at me, "Didn't you get my owl about your new floor?" He watches me with those depthless grey eyes, "It had all the arrangements."

"I did." I say, crossing one knee over the other and linking my foot behind my calf, "But I just wanted to make super sure that the off still stands."

He looks back down at his paper, as if he has already dismissed me and then he speaks, "It does." The words are not harsh, but they are indifferent. Like I'm boring him.

"And," I continue as if he had never spoken, "I wanted to tell you that from here on out, I get to veto any photo's of myself that I do not like. I saw the _daily prophet!"_

Eyes flicking back up to meet my gaze, I have to say he looks a little hurt. "You didn't like my article?" He asks.

"The article was fine." And it was. It was actually quite a good read, and even though most of the words were lifted straight from the mouth of Hermione Jean Granger, I was quite impressed – I really do have a way with words, if I do say so myself! – with how easily he could make himself seem selfless.

Correct me if I am wrong, and I am pretty sure that I am not, but his desire to do something for the good of the world seemed to materialise out of thin air after I suggested – of screamed – that he was a bit of a selfish bastard.

"I thought it was a nice picture." He says shrugging and continuing to write something on the pages in front of himself.

I throw the issue in question of the _daily prophet _down on the table in front of him and tap the front page picture. '_I thought it was a nice photo.'_ is staring up at us and we both look down at it.

**_Malfoy and Granger Put Differences Aside To Help Others- By Reeta Skeeter (Voted Best Gossip Columnist for the last five years)_**

_Malfoy Inc. To Take New Company To New Heights With Aid Of Popular War Hero Hermione Granger. _

_The Malfoy-Granger team recently formed when Draco Malfoy – Voted most eligible bachelor by popular magazine Witch Weekly and winner of Witch Weekly's most charming smile award – bought over an old, run down company where the Hermione Granger was working. _

_After deciding he was sick of keeping all that money in his vaults – he's rich too, ladies – he came up with the idea of helping out the Wizarding World. He decided to hire on Ms. Granger as the manager of this little project and, with her aid, is to create a sanctuary for any person or magical creature __in need. __Just Isn't he Merlin's gift to the world, Ladies? _

On top of that lovely, inaccurate article announcing the details of our project, is a photo segment that is divided into two.

On one side there is a photo of Draco Malfoy. It is clear to see why people think he is such a stunner with this photo. His smile would make your knees go weak and the way he flips his hair makes your heart jump into your throat.

On the other side, though, there is a picture of what could be me, or it could be Nanny Mcphee, before the transformation, for how flattering it is. And I think I'm in my pyjamas.

"Oh yes it is almost as good as my photo on the company file and we both know the kind of impression that that photo makes!" I uncross and then re-cross my legs with the opposite knee on top, "And I seem to recall you not being able to stop laughing!"

"I'll check with you before any more pictures are published."

"Good!"

"Anything else?" he's not looking at me anymore, instead he is fingering a quill and tracing lines on the paper with his fingertip; reading.

"No." I say, shaking my head and I can tell he has something else he wants to say so I wait.

He looks back up, "Granger..." He pauses, rubs a hand through his dishevelled, platinum locks and looks over my shoulder to the open door beyond. "Sixth floor is all yours. Your new team will be waiting up there."

"Ok."

"I'll see you back here at twelve thirty for a progress report." He tells me as I walk towards the door, I stop and stare at him. Slightly disbelieving if I am honest.

"How much do you expect from me in four hours?" I ask, my eyebrows inching up my face and knowing before he even answers that working here is going to be what puts me into an early grave.

He doesn't look at me as he talks, "I expect miracles Granger."

"I'm sorry to disappoint, Malfoy," I mutter under my breath as I let the door shut softly behind myself on my way out into the corridor, "But, I'm fresh out of miracles. Actually, I've been out of them for a while!"

* * *

Heart pounding I make my way to the row of lifts at the end of the marble corridor. I make my way into the first lift that arrives and use a shaky finger to press the gold rimmed button that houses the number 6. He magically added a new floor to the building. The number is the only one on the panel that shines in gold and has never been there before.

Shaking and shuddering the lift jerks into motion and I find myself moving with it, right into the grate on the opposite side. I'm pretty sure that I have the criss-cross pattern stamped onto my cheek.

I exit the lift after I have taken a few seconds to steel myself and make sure I am ready for whatever Theo can throw at me, (the others I am not worried about at all, Kevin is my friend and Pansy has expressed the desire to turn over a new leaf, but Theo... Oh Theo always has something snarky to say!)

It's an open plan floor. Honestly, I can't believe that he even bothered to get something together that is so nice for me. The floors are white marble – the kind with the black shards shuffled among the stones – and the back wall is all glass. Any dividers are clear glass with blinds on them and there are marble pillars standing every few meters or so to signal a new 'room'. "Wow." I whisper. I've walked a fair way into the floor by now and start to survey the other sections.

"I know." I turn and see Pansy, Theo and Kevin standing behind me in what looks like he kitchen. The cabinets are decked out in black marble and there is a little green snake curling around the letters 'DM' that stands in the top right corner of the island. I walk over and run my fingers over it, laughing quietly to myself as I do so.

The snake moves as I touch it and I jump back; frightened. But then I realise that it seems to only be moving its head to 'nuzzle' (well, as far as an inanimate, 2D image can) my fingers. I stroke it gently. "Can you believe that he has done all of this?" Pansy is asking, but I am only vaguely aware. I'm still trying to comprehend everything in my head. "Thanks for all this." She says and I laugh.

"This," I say, gesturing around at the amazing room and then bringing my hands back down to run my hands along the granite counter tops, "Is all Draco Malfoy."

Pansy is still babbling. "This is so much nice than the crappy office I got before!" She's walking around and surveying all the different 'offices'. I say 'offices' because there aren't really any dividers, or doors, just desks and a lot of space. "I guess Hermione get's first pick, but I get second!"

"That's so not fair!" Theo starts striding after her, looking at all the desks and deciding which his favourite is, so that he can claim it first. They both rush around arguing and I watch them, laughing behind my hand so as to not be openly laughing at their immaturity.

Kevin inches up behind me, I hear him coming but I still jump when I feel his breath on my cheek, "You really struck gold here, Granger." He says and then he moves away from me to get his hand into the situation of who gets first choice on desk.

* * *

"What did you think of your offices?" He asks at twelve thirty on the dot, as I pull a paper carton of the noodles towards myself - from the tray of Chinese food that he tells me ha had to venture all the way into Muggle London to buy - and pull my chopsticks apart.

"Malfoy, you have really out done yourself." I say, smiling at him over my food and then laughing as I watch him try to pull apart his wooden chopsticks and snap one accidentally. "Maybe you should use a fork." I suggest and he nods, using his want to transfigure the unsnapped stick into a metal fork.

"They really are amazing." I tell him.

"I'm glad you like them." He looks down and then flicks his eyes back up to meet mine. "I thought you would prefer the spacious look."

"You're amazing," I notice my slip before I even say it and rush to correct myself, "It's amazing."

"You think I'm amazing." Yep, I will never hear the end of this one.

* * *

After my unnaturally pleasant lunch with Draco Malfoy, I make my way back up to the offices. I look over the site that Malfoy has given me to build on. There are documents containing planning permission from the Minister of Magic and a large white sheets with the grass plane drawn in. There is one for every angle and they are sitting on my planning boards in an office of their own - located in the centre of all the offices joining them together - waiting for me to run my wand over them and make up the first set of designs for the building.

Theo and Kevin are meeting with Architects to help look over our final design to make sure that it is safe, and Pansy has decided to take all of the publicity into her own hands - thank Merlin because I honestly don't think I could ever do it - so she is off somewhere creating dates and getting photo's of the original site to compare our progress with after we have started.

I'm stuck in the office alone, running numbers and trying to come up with an accurate time frame and a list of all the different types of workforces that we are going to need to complete this.

At around four, I make my way to the kitchen and glance towards the snake curling around the Malfoy heir's initials as I move to the fridge to find a bottle of water.

They are everywhere. The initials and the snake. All in green and all there to make sure that I don't forget who runs things. I found my desk pretty quickly. It was the only one with a DM snake, but it also had a little yellow orange lion cub biting her teeth into a 'HG' in the opposite corner, her tail flicking and curling around the letters. Every so often one of them would stray into the other's territory and there would be a little scuffling and a puffy orange and green ball as they tumbled around, and then all would go back to normal. I know why he chose a little lion cub...and I also know that it made me smile.

* * *

That night I make my way back to the burrow as I want to speak to Sirius - though he doesn't live there, he can always almost be found there. I think he likes the company. Kreacher - ancient as he is - always escorts him and busies himself with the cleaning at the burrow for the duration of their stay. Molly loves Kreacher and he is nicer than ever now that he has a little company and can escape the darkness of Grimauld Place.

I apparate outside and knock on the door. Molly opens the door, ushering me inside and handing me a mug of tea as soon as I enter the kitchen. Sirius is sitting there and promptly gets up and makes his way into the living room as soon as I enter, which is something that hurts me a little. Though I brush it off as stress.

After finding out from her mother that I was here, Ginny rushes over and brings Luna with her straight from work at the ministry, and soon the house is in full party mode. Molly is cooking everyone is laughing and having a good time. Fred and George are moping around the kitchen and dipping their fingers into boiling pots – though as if the scolding is not enough, they also get a wallop on the head by Mrs. Weasley who is wielding a wooden spoon – and Sirius is always on the far side of the room to be.

He keeps glancing in my direction and moving on when he sees me approaching.

Dinner passes without a hitch, conversations flows freely and everyone is having a great time.

* * *

I keep true to Sirius' request and refrain from telling anyone, he doesn't seem to be voluntarily giving away the information either and he keeps avoiding me so I can't ask him if it went alright.

"SIRIUS!" I yell at him as he is making his way out of the back door of the burrow and into the back garden after dinner has come to a close. The gnomes have been wreaking havoc again in the Weasley garden and I almost step on one in my haste to catch the dark haired wizard speed walking away from me.

I start running when I see that he is throwing his leg over the motorbike that Hagrid gave back to him after the war – it runs nicer now after I put that spell on the engine to make it smoother – and when I make it I hop onto the back (the removal of the side seat may have been a bad idea) and scream in his ear until he turns off the engine and drops the bike back down two feet to the ground. "What do you want, GRANGER!" He yells over the roar of the bike, "All I want is to go and drink myself into an oblivion, but you have to try and stop me!"

"It didn't go well did it?" I ask and he looks at the ground, even in the dark I can see the embarrassment in his eyes.

"Granger," He speaks softly now that the noise has gone and he kicks at the ground with one of his back army boots. He's wearing all black; he looks like a bad boy. "I wouldn't know. I haven't spoken to her."

My eyes widen and I slap one of my hands into his chest – it just rebounds and must have feel like a fly hitting into him, but I think that the message is clear. "Sirius!" I shove him back until he is sitting on the bike so that my shorter frame can seem a little more intimidating and I summon my inner McGonagall and Molly Weasley. The mix that I come out with seems to put a little fear in his eyes and this gives me a feeling of satisfaction that rumbles deep in my belly. "Think about this poor woman!" My index finger is shoved into his chest and stabs him with every word, "How do you think she's feeling!"

I cut him off before he can even open his mouth, "I'll tell you how she's feeling! Scared! Like you are. Hurt that the father of her child knows she's having a baby and hasn't tried to find her! And probably worrying about what people are going to think of her!" I stamp my foot on the ground and tap his head with my fist, "What if she decides to get rid of it, how will you feel then, Sirius?" My voice is harsh and I try to correct it before it comes out but I can. He swallows and sighs.

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**I hope you enjoyed, and please review! :)**


	9. My 'Post It's' Nightmare!

**I'm fast forwarding two days because in my head not much happens there and I don't want to bore you all to death with a dull two days. **

* * *

Tuesday and Wednesday pass without a hitch. I don't even see Draco Malfoy. I work in my office, breaking for lunch and going home at the correct time, eat alone and then curl up in bed with a good book.

Though the bliss of boredom ends before I can fully appreciate it.

I exit the lifts on Thursday morning; walking out of the dingy box into the bright corridor and having to squint to protect my eyes as they take a little while to adjust, then I make my way through the doors and into the office.

I believe that when I described my office I mentioned that it was all glass. Meaning that I can see all the way through it. As in I'm standing here at the doors and I can see the one and only Draco Malfoy with his feet up on my desk, looking through my designs on the new building. "Enjoying going through stuff that is not yours?" I ask. His head snaps up to look at me, his eyes look darker today and there a dark rings protruding from his pale cheeks.

"What's yours is mine Granger."

"We're not married Malfoy!" I tell him and I grab the pages from his hands.

He flicks something off his trousers and watches as the little lion cub on the desk moves towards him, she takes a few sniffs at his leg and then starts trying to push her way out of the desk to scratch him. Though, much to my disappointment, she can't seem to make it out. "No, but you are my employee, and I guess that's worse for you because I have total control." He smirks, his eyes lighting up through the haze of what appears to be tiredness and then he whispers in a strangely seductive voice, "Total Control, Granger," Once more. I catch myself before I can let _that _voice drift its way into my sexual fantasies. _Cool it, Granger! _I tell myself and I look back up at him from where my gaze had trained itself on the ground.

"Are you alright, Malfoy?" I ask and he kicks his feet down from the desk. He rests his elbows on his knees and he refuses to meet my eye.

"Do you know what those are supposed to be, Granger?" He asks me, pointedly ignoring my question and pointing instead to the lion and the snake perched on either side of the desk but seemingly perfectly content with each other.

I smile, "I think I guessed."

"They are supposed to be us. Me and you." He smiles. "They react the same way that we do to each other. When they fight one of us is angry with the other, when they sit calmly, we are both at ease." He laughs, "I can take it off if you want, but I read about the spell and thought that you would find it cool, so I decided to try it out... if you don't like it I can take it away."

"I like them." I say and he smiles up at me.

"Good." He stands and starts to walk out of the door. I watch him go, he's almost at the end of the offices and is just about to take a step into the main corridor as I run after him and call out.

"Are you sure everything's ok?"

"Stop worrying, Granger." He smirks, "You'll go grey."

* * *

I return to my desk, finally acknowledging the fact that we managed to get through a whole conversation without arguing with each other.

I look down at the pages. There are hundreds of little 'post it' notes over everything detailing every changes he thinks that I can make, though mixed in there are also funny little comments that make me smile (and make the little lion purr – so I stick a 'post it' over her in hope that she will get the message that being happy over Draco Malfoy is NOT allowed!)

Pansy rushes in about a half an hour later while I'm still digging through the mountains of correction that I have to make.

"I finished drawing up all the contracts for the builders and I'm just going to send them to legal department to get them to look over any possible loopholes." She says, she has taken a seat opposite my desk and is pulling one of her black stilettos off her foot, rubbing the back and deciding how much damage has been done to the backs of her heels.

"New shoes?" I ask, "Here." I pull a box of plasters out of my drawer and throw them over the desk to her, she looks at them with a weird expression and I start explaining what they are. "Anyway, about the contracts, don't bother with the legal department." I tell her, she looks at me questioningly and I start searching through my discarded 'post it's' and find an orange one in the pile. I shove it over the desk towards her, "Apparently they have to be taken straight to Malfoy, I assume he will decide what to do."

She stands, wincing. "Alright, should I take them down?"

"Nah, we can bring them to him before we go to lunch, sit down and take off those shoes!"

At twelve thirty I say that the time has come for us to take a break. "Let's go to lunch." I say and I call over to Theo and Kevin to tell them that we are going. Pansy slips on her configured stiletto/ trainers and we take to the stairs, the documents slipped under my arm all ready for Malfoy's judgement.

I have to leave it with Zabini because Malfoy has decided to up and disappear.

* * *

It's Thursday night and I know that it seems like I spend most of my time at the burrow these days, but it's the official dinner night tonight. This is the night where everyone is invited and everyone has to turn up. "Ginny." I smile as I walk over the threshold and step onto the threadbare carpet. She's sitting on the floor flipping through _Witch Weekly_ and rating them all on a scale of one to ten with Tonks.

"Mione." Both Tonks and Ginny stand up to greet me and then the take their seats once more. An argument ensues over a rating, it's quite comical actually, and I get pulled into the discussion.

"I give him a nine." I tell them, Ginny looks put out – having only rated him a four – but he has those baby blue wonder eyes and he keeps winking up at me. Definitely a nine already and I haven't even describe the washboard stomach and bulked biceps of one; Gregory Goyle.

_Oh my God. _

_Oh my GOD. _I did not just think he was hot, Gregory Goyle was hot!

_OH my GOD. _

_OH MY GOD! _He looks hot! _HERMIONE! _

"Did you read the name Ginny?" I ask and she looks down, taking in the name and then she starts laughing. "You were the one who gave him a nine! I gave him a four; I can still claim complete sanity, though I think you need to check yourself into St. Mungo's."

"UGH! This is why I don't play this game." I just had a very vivid image of something along the lines of, what Ginny calls 'sexy time' with _the _Gregory Goyle. Not the one from the photo. The one from school, stuffing his face with cakes and then trying to kiss me.

"Hermione loves Goyle!" Ginny cackles and I shove a pillow into her face. Wow. Was I the only one from school who life wasn't amazingly kind to?

* * *

I turn around to find someone else to speak with and Harry's holding out some sort of picture – a baby scan. It still looks like a bunch of lines to us all, but Harry starts pinpointing the head and body and we all finally start to get it.

They had another ultrasound done yesterday, Harry is insisting that as well as the magical checkups, they also use Muggle procedures as well, and the non–moving picture seems to startle all the Weasley Clan.

The picture of their baby makes me remember to ask Sirius if he has spoken to the witch carrying his future Heir. I think that Sirius gathers that I am going to want to speak to him, so he inclines his head to the back door and we both make our way into the garden. These clandestine meetings are becoming a regular night time activity for us now and I am quite surprised that no one has noticed anything suspicious.

Ron must have gotten his obliviousness from somewhere, so the Weasley's are excused, but Harry usually cottons onto things straight away. I just want someone else to find out so I don't have to keep the secret any more. Please note that this is not my selfishness here, I just suck at keeping secrets and I don't want to abuse his trust by slipping accidentally!

I want to tell Sirius that no one will judge him on this and that we will all be overjoyed for him. But he knows all of this and he needs the time.

"How did it go?" I ask and he motions for me to keep walking until we are definitely far enough away from the burrow so that no one can hear us... and so that the gnomes are biting us for standing in their territory! "So, how _did _it go?"

"I have four months, Hermione." I look up to him. "She gave me four months to turn into the man she thinks should be in her child's life. No more drinking, no casual flings... nothing."

"Look at things on the bright side."

"I am, Hermione!" He tells me and he sits down on a little stone ledge that juts out of the wall surrounding the garden. "I get a child. A son."

"She already knows?" I ask and he nods his head, his black hair falling into his face. Though it seems like a quick time to find out the sex of the baby, I remember that Harry found out very quickly too. Something about the magical charm used to confirm a pregnancy glows a specific colour for a certain gender.

"A boy." He smiles, his eyes lighting up and his voice getting thick with emotion. "But I don't know how to act like a mature adult!" he says, "I never have been. I'm good at being a child."

"But you aren't a child anymore." I tell him and he looks at his hands, playing with his fingers and sliding a black signet ring with the Black family crest on it round and round his finger. "You need to grow up Sirius." I stand and walk back to the burrow. I know that I am being mean. I know that they say you shouldn't kick someone while they are down, but if this is what it takes to keep his son in his life, then I will be the biggest bitch on the planet to make sure he gets to see his son.

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**Thank you to everyone who has reviewed this story :) Please keep on reviewing, i like to know what you guys are thinking :)**


	10. Crap! He's In My Head!

**Thank you everyone who has reviewed the story. **

**There was a review that stated some confusion on the story, so i guess that i have a few things to clean up for you guys. 1. I may have said hermione had rent due, but owned a house. i changed mymind halfway through the chapter, so she owns a house and the bills for 'rent' can be classed as utility bills or ignored :)**

**2. When i said that ginny called hermoine ugly, it wasn't because she was a bad friend, it was like sarcastic 'your ugly' kinda jokes. **

**3. Lupin went to Draco to ask for hermione's interview,because he knew that Hermione would be dissapointed with herself if she just _quit. _so he did it to be nice and now everything is working out for the best :) well, for now. **

**Please read and review. :) x**

* * *

I leave Sirius in the back garden and I return to the burrow. Sirius doesn't join us and when I leave to go home, I start to feel the guilt crawling through my body. It starts in the back of my mind, but by the time that I step out of the floo in my living room and shut the grate, it has almost consumed me.

Maybe I was too hard on him. Maybe a firm hand wasn't what he needed. _No, _I reassure myself, _this is what he needs! He needs to know that there is no other way! _

I pick up Parsley who is sitting on one of my feet and I curl him into my lap. I don't really remember falling asleep. But I wake when there is a beeping... The phone. I stretch, standing up and walking over to it. It stops ringing before I can make it and it's way too early to go ringing people back, so I decide to drop it and instead I make my way to my actual bed and curl up under my purple duvet.

* * *

The next time I wake up it is eight and I am ready to start the day. I find a cream coloured, above the knee dress and a black pair of heels and bring them into the bathroom with me so that I can get ready for the day ahead.

I emerge from the bathroom - pretty proud with the change (My bed head is not something that anyone should _ever, _EVER see!) - and march to the grate, grabbing a black blazer on the way out.

When I arrive at work, I notice that there are a lot less people than usual, which is strange. Then I look at my watch and realise that it is half eight. How can I be here so early? I could have watch that episode of Miranda that I missed last night! I have half a mind to floo back home and take my well deserved half an hour of morning time, but Draco Malfoy rounds the corner and I just can't turn around and leave - though I do have half a mind to. "Malfoy." I think my voice sounds pretty genuine, even though I am pining for a lost half an hour. "Good morning."

"Oh, Granger, good." He smiles and wraps a hand around my waist, leaving no room for argument. I am going where Draco Malfoy wants me to go. And I have no choice in the matter. Not that I really mind. He _is _looking particularly dashing this morning_. Snap out of it HERMIONE_! I reprimand myself when I catch my thoughts straying into a dodgy area and I stop admiring the size of his biceps. This is not good.

* * *

"Granger, I had a look at those contracts and they look fine," He smiles and I nod, telling him that he should be congratulating Pansy on a job well done not me and I make to walk away, but I don't get half a step before he clenches my arm and pulls me back round. "Granger!" I look up at him, even with my heels, the crown of my forehead just about meets his eyebrows and I feel dreadfully short.

"Malfoy," I say and I pull away again, turning and making to leave.

His voice turns as steely as his eyes, "Don't make me call you again, Granger."

I take note of the warning in his voice and I spin back to look at him, my heels clicking on the wooden flooring of his office which is where we have ended up. "You may leave now, Granger."

Curses begin flooding into my head, one after the other, in a file all ready to jump out of my mouth and strangle Draco Malfoy for being such an arse. But I censor my mouth and decide to settle with a harsh look and the sound of my retreating heels.

* * *

I fall through the door into my office, clutching my head in my hands and gripping my hair in my hands. Not good. Not. Good. NOT. GOOD! "I just thought that Draco Malfoy was hot." I sink into my chair and put my head between my legs, that is what they say you should do it you are feeling sick. I think I'm almost there!

There is a click and the smash of the door on the handle. "You what?" Pansy walks through the door, shutting it behind herself, but not before looking out and checking to make sure that Theo and Kevin were no way in sight.

"Why are you here?" I ask, "It's eight thirty in the morning!"

Pansy flips her sleek hair over her shoulder and paces in front of me. "Hermione, as you employee, I'm scared to be honest with you."

"Don't be." I tell her and motioning for her to continue, I need to hear this. I need to have any feelings of attraction to Draco Malfoy, however small, squashed down inside me. Far, far down, until I can't feel them.

* * *

**That's it today. school started last week and I haven't had time to write, but this is Hermione's first achnowledgement of her attraction. I hope it doesn't seem rushed. don't take it like she is in love with him. we are far, far off from that. this is like a schoolgirl crush. well, he is Draco Malfoy ;)**

**Please review, even though it is a super small chapter :)**


	11. Hello Sense AKA Pansy!

**I pretty much have the vague direction of the story down, but if you guys have any suggestions to make the story better, feel free to leave them in a review, I'd love to hear what you guys think :)**

* * *

I look at Pansy. Her green eyes stare back. "Granger." Theo walks through the door. His eyes swivel from my panicked expression to Pansy's comforting eyes and then he back tracks quickly. Walking to the door and standing in the frame watching us for a second, "Just tell me now... One of you is pregnant, aren't they? Granger, I thought you knew better!"

"ME!"I stand up, walking closer to him, flipping my hair over my shoulders, "You said 'one of you is pregnant,' and then you say me? Why?"

"Granger I..."

"Why not Pansy?" I fume, "You didn't say 'one of you is pregnant' and then look at both of us. You said me. Not thought needed!"

"Well... You..."

"Shut up, moron." Pansy turns on him, and he holds his hands up. "Just because we are having a private conversation and Granger is upset, doesn't mean she's knocked up!"

He shrugs his shoulders and looks between us again, "No but the moodiness usually is a sign." he smirks cockily, winking at me and then darting out of the way as I take aim with my wand.

Pansy waves his comment away and she continues to pace in front of my desk; looking at the wall, the floor and then finally fixing her eyes on me, "Ignore him, you are the average amount of moody."

"Well, that makes me feel better." I mutter sarcastically and sink into my chair. I run my hand over the lion cub pacing back and forth on the desk, tail between her legs and staying far away from the snake on the other side.

"Huh," Pansy walks forwards and looks closer to the desk, "What are these?"

"Malfoy decorated it," I tell her, smiling and then I realise what I am doing and I school my features.

She looks at me, worried. "So, about Draco." She says, sitting on the edge of my desk and crossing one envy-worthy leg over the other. I want to hate her because she is just so fricking perfect. Perfect hair, she's pretty, not at a loss for male attention, she's a nice person - now, her school years were not her best. But then I remember that she deserves it after how many comments she had to go through in school about being pug nosed.

I bet all of those people wish they hadn't said anything now.

I shove my own thighs under the desk in the square space, in an attempt to conceal them and then I flop my head down on the desk. "Oh hun." She touches my hair lightly and pushes it out of my face so she can see my desk- squished cheek. "I know what it feels like," laughing she picks at her nails. "The unconditional attraction, resulting in being treated like a piece of trash while he looks at every other girl except you." She smiles weakly, "I know, Hermione, what it will be like if you don't look at someone else instead."

"I don't love him, Pansy. It's just a stupid crush, I'll get over it."

"Like your crush on Weasley, how long did that take to get over? Six years?"

"Four, I'm not that pathetic! Plus, I was the one who broke it off after we started dating!" I hiss, "And I know he'd never like me."

She shakes her head, "That's not the point Granger," she says, "Whether he likes you or not, he's a jerk. He dated Astoria Greengrass a year ago. Every night she would cry because he would be so rude and brash and emotionally unavailable with her. I'm not saying you shouldn't crush on him. He's hot, no one can deny it, but just be careful." She walks to the door, "Besides, Theo's always available and he's hot too. Maybe you should just try it with him if you fancy a Slytherin." She winks. Further more, she says this at the exact point in time - this really shows the extent of my luck - that Theodore Nott walks outside my cracked door. Glass, right. I can see his face as he hears.

Thank the lord it's not disgusted. He smirks cockily and winks coyly. "What's up, Granger?" inclining his head he licks his lips slowly. Undeniably sexy, of course, but that is not the point!

"I don't just want a Slytherin. I don't want any Slytherin." I say after Theo has walked away, "Pansy, all I wanted was to vent my growing attraction - that I will never act on - and forget about it."

"Blaise is always available too." She hints, and we both look out of the glass expecting him to round the corner. With my tendency for unfortunate circumstances, we are both sort of surprised when his cropped hair and chiselled features don't seem to be appearing.

* * *

I sit there and stare as she walks out of the office. My brain pounds against my skull, and I feel a migraine arriving. Pulling out a bundle of pages that need sorting, I busy myself for the next few hours. Pages fall into files, notes get sorted, labels are made - basically, lots of things get done, but my brain is just as frazzled as before.

Pansy walks in at a quarter to one, and she demands that we break for lunch. I decide not to refute and instead follow her dutifully out of the office, down the stairs and out of the building. She decides to go into Muggle London to get food, and I let her pull me into a small cafe that lies on the side of the road.

Honestly, I would never have noticed it if it were not for Pansy, but Pansy is with me and so I find myself sitting in the comfy, yellow cushioned chairs and sitting waiting for food.

"You ok, Granger?" She asks, her eyes looking at the menu instead of me so I decide to lie.

I grimace to myself, but thankfully she doesn't see, "Yeah."

"I'm sorry about this morning." She says, finally taking her eyes of the laminated, cream coloured card sitting in front of her. "I just don't want to see you get hurt."

I tap my fingers on the table, taking this time to scrutinize my cuticles and hoping that she doesn't see my face flush, "Pansy, I've already told you I only think he's attractive. It's like looking at a picture of a famous person and thinking that they are hot."

She shrugs, "A famous person is not designing an entire penthouse office space for you and coming up with a spell to personalise your desk." She sighs, motioning to the waitress and beckoning her over to take our orders, "Never mind, and just don't say I didn't warn you."

Pansy takes a sip of her drink, "I've decided to ask him out," I say before she can swallow. All of the liquid in her mouth flies out onto the floor. "I'm joking." I say between bouts of laughter, "I just wanted to see you do that!"

"I'm going to kill you!"

I think the only thing that stops her from jumping out of her chair to murder me, is the waitress whose impeccable timing has her asking "What can I get you?" just as Pansy is about to kick her chair out of the way.

* * *

**I know that it is still quite a few chapters away, but if any one wants to suggest any names for baby Sirius (boy) and baby potter, Than i would love to hear them, (you'd get credit of course :)), but i want super original, cool names :) the more different and amazing the better :D**


	12. New and Improved

**Thank you to those people who reviewed the last chapter and the two people who gave me some fantastic name choices :), please continue to review, it makes me more eager to continue writing. **

* * *

"I honestly don't understand what possessed you to tip a glass of wine over me!" I say pointing down at my top where the soaking wine stain is located.

Pansy sighs, shaking her head, rolling her eyes and shrugging nonchalantly as if it is nothing, despite the fact that my see through white shirt now looks tie-dyed – and not even the cool kind of tie-dying. "I honestly don't understand why you don't just magic it out!" She pulls open the door of the building and ushers me through ahead of her, "It was an accident anyway."

"A likely story!" I mutter, standing in wait for the lift, "And I can't just magic it out, it will damage the shirt." I pull on it as it is sticking oddly to my skin and showing a 'let's not leave anything to the imagination' kind of outline.

"Granger, haven't you learnt how to get your food into your mouth yet?" Draco Malfoy decides that the lift he wants to get into is mine, so he pushes his way in before us and then taps his foot impatiently as Pansy and I share annoyed looks.

I continue to stretch my top away from my body until it makes an unflattering angle, (I am not turning my situation in to a hyperbole and pretending that I looked hideous when the purple actually made my skin look quite flattering, because I am in general quite a honest person – well, that and vein – so if I looked good I would say so. But I don't. In fact, I look rather the opposite of stunning. And I know because there is a gargantuan mirror spreading the three walls that make up the lift, bar the one with the sliding door, so I can see my form perfectly... and I do not like what I see).

"Draco, haven't you learnt yet that being a jerk isn't the be all and end all?" I tell him, "You won't make any friends acting the way that you are."

"Men like me don't need to make friends, Granger." he smirks, "People just seem to revolve around me."

I smirk back at him, "That's because you are so big headed that they have to make the circle to get around you."

His hands find their way into his pockets and I watch as they disappear behind the material, inch by inch – I am not staring anywhere else... just the pockets. I twist my gaze away from his trousers and the area that I must not venture, and watch his hands instead. He has beautiful hands; strong with long pale fingers. "Thin rope, Granger." I flick my eyes up to his mouth, then I move my head a little – casually trying to make it clear I was _not _enjoying the view – but I can tell by the look in his eyes, and Pansy's, that they both know. Ah well, play the game to the end Granger.

"Obviously you haven't learned the art of putting food into your mouth either Malfoy," I tell him, pointing to his crotch and then making a speedy exit as the doors _ding!_ open, before he can ascertain that I was, in fact, lying about the nonexistent stain and call me out on it.

* * *

My door is firmly shut to the public – i.e Pansy – for the remainder of the afternoon. I can always rely on my buddy Kevin when these things happen. Ha! Ha! That was hard to say without laughter or sarcasm, because you should be aware that the last person that you ever want to witness you screw ups is Kevin. "You did what?"

"I didn't ask you in here to make fun of me, arsehole." I spit and he rolls his eyes, flexing his back and then flopping into his chair. To be fair, I did not invite him in. Having him here is just as bad as having Malfoy when you are seriously pissed off. He just makes everything worse.

I push myself away from the desk; the unfinished plans of the building are being created brick by brick in front of me. Every brick placed onto the site slots itself into shape on my three dimensional map. I have to remember to move it before it becomes too large, "Oh, dahling." That is how he says it. _Dah–_ling. He saw it in this movie once and has to say it over and over to piss me off – even more so because the day that we watched that movie was the day that I walked into a presentation with my skirt tucked into my knickers. Oh, I have yet to find someone as woefully unlucky as I am. "I'm here to make you feel better."

"About what? If your goal was to make me feel better about wanting to tuck myself into the ground and bury myself alive to get over the humiliation of admiring the area between Malfoy's legs, then you are succeeding."

"Ew!" He throws his hands over his ears after making a God awful face and then holds a hand to stop the progression of my words, "Pansy, I know you are listening, come and save me from this torture." A sleek, black haired form falls out from behind one of the stone columns, and I can guarantee that my gaze is much icier than the touch of the marble to her manicured fingers.

* * *

"Seriously, where were you to save me?" I ask her as she pushes open the door, moving to leave space for Kevin to move out of the room. Her wand flies through the air as soon as we are alone and she mutters out a silencing spell that blocks the sound from prying ears like hers.

she studies her finger nails, examining the flawless polish and coming to the conclusion that it is all to her satisfaction. "I was doing damage control!" she sighs, pushing her back flat against the chair she lifts a leg and removes her heels before kicking her feet onto the table. "You really didn't make your 'non- crush' obvious, did you Hermione?"

"Fuck off." I sigh, my head collapses into my hands and I hold it there as I hear her even breathing. Obviously my breath is not even. I'm not sure if it has stopped from shock at my obvious ogling or is so rapid – due to humiliation – that I can't hear it, but it is definitely not even.

* * *

I think it must look quite comical as I run to the lift and then sprint out of the building, only to run into Theodore Nott making his way up to the offices. "Granger." He smirks, _he knows, there is no way that tone should be there if he didn't know..._ I try to calm myself down; _I bet it is the office gossip. I am the gossip that the big mouthed idiots like to shuffle around. _Calming myself down, I nod to him and then inch my way around his person before continuing to make my speedy exit.

I make it home without encountering laughter – other than the gleeful look in Nott's eyes – and then sink into the sofa before I remember that it is a Weasley dinner night. I'm supposed to be there soon, but I don't really know if I have the effort.

I shove the top into the bath tub and run the hot water onto the stain. I changed at work into an ugly t-shirt that was stuffed down deep in one of Nott's drawers that he fished out from the abyss of hell for me – seriously, it smells like something died in it – so I take off that top too and shove that into the machine with a bunch of other clothes before pressing the power button. Some things are always best done the muggle way.

I get down onto my knees and start scrubbing at the top, "God Hermoine, put some clothes on!"

"Harry!" I scream pulling the t-shirt up from the bath as I go and covering myself and Harry in soapy water. "What the crap are you doing here? You could have called out."

"I did!"

I can feel my face turning an odd shade of red by the heat that is radiating up my neck and meeting my hairline. "Get out, Harry!"

"Oh. Sight. Sorry." He says and he makes a swift exit into the living room.

I walk back into the living room after I have finished drying myself, the bathroom and have hung the top out to dry over the balcony. "Sorry about that, Hermione."

I look in his direction. From the socked feet with their position on my coffee table to his arms that are folded behind his head holding it up, there is nothing about the lounging position of Harry James Potter that doesn't scream 'I am totally at home in your front room'.

"Don't waste any time getting comfortable, Harry." I laugh and take the arm chair that sits next to the sofa. "What are you doing here?"

"Hermione, I came to watch the football," He huffs, turning towards me, "You know full well that she doesn't like me watching the TV, it scares her." the she that he is referring to is his wife. "So I came here for a bit off peace. So... Please will you refrain from talking." With that, I find myself being shuffled out of the room by Harry, with a joking expression playing in his eyes.

"You are lucky that I am so good to you." I yell back through the doorway after he has settled back into the comfortable embrace of the sofa.

"I love you."

"Yeah, yeah."

* * *

The football is over after ninety tense minutes, half of which I was sure that Harry was going to start crying, and then it is time for us to make out way over to the burrow.

Harry's expression does not improve as I make my way over to the fireplace that stands against the far wall, "Cheer up Harry." I tell him as i grab a handful of powder and throw it down into the bed of the flames.

"They lost." He huffs and I am honestly tempted to remove the floo powder and shove his head into the roaring fire.

"Get over it." I murmur under my breath - I'm not suicidal.

The fire licks at my ankles, touching them and keeping them warm until I can feel my feet placed firmly onto the ground of the Burrow's fireplace. When I step out of the floo I am sure that I have found a way to transport myself into a different dimension; a parallel universe of some sort.

You may be asking yourself how I came to this shocking, unexpected conclusion. Well, you would too if you saw a freshly shaven, cropped haired, casually dressed Sirius Black.

Gone is the long hair that was constantly being flipped out of his eyes, replaces by a cropped style of black hair that accentuates his strong, masculine features. Gone is the stubble that used to shadow his jaw line until it was rendered almost invisible.

In place of the archaic suits that would have looked at home in the court of Henry the eighth, I can see jeans. Muggle jeans. With a grey FP polo shirt and a set of grey high top trainers.

Sirius looks to us as we step away from the grate, his eyes linger on mine as I take in the sight in front of my eyes. "What do you think?"

The only thing that I can get out is, "Did you get lost in JD sports?"

* * *

**sorry for the long wait, this has been a super hectic week. hopefully it was worth it.**

**thank you for the names, i haven't chosen yet, so if you still want to suggest some please do.**

**Please review, it makes me smile :D**


	13. My bed is Invaded

**Hey guys. I'm so sorry for the wait. I guess that things have been a little hectic lately, I'm applying to Uni this year and so that took up a lot of time this month. I'm so stressed and scared, but i am not giving up on this at all!**

**I also got a really hateful review and i guess that made me lose the will to write for a little bit, but i am going to persevere because other people seem to be enjoying it. **

**I've written a bit extra today to make up for my absence and i hope that you guys like it enough to leave a little review. The real drama starts arriving in a few chapters, hopefully you can wait that long :) **

**Draco and Hermione get a little closer in this chapter. **

* * *

"Um, no?" Sirius looks to me like he is making a definitely false claim and I am the first to call him out on it.

I step forwards, making the turn and trying to shuffle my thoughts out of yesterday and into the new universe that I have to call my present time. Maybe everything is changing and all previous events will be forgotten. Maybe Draco Malfoy will forget that I eyed up his self proclaimed 'best assets' – and boy does he not stop reminding people. Somehow, I doubt that Sirius' new attire will cause a domino effect that will encase the whole world until we can all start fresh, though one can only hope. "You did! Didn't you?" I laugh, "You went into muggle London and picked the most preppy looking attire that you could find! I bet you have a wardrobe full of the same clothes in different colours." I laugh, I know I shouldn't be having a good old chuckle over his modification of his attitude to prove that he is father material, but I have had such a blooming awful day that I have no control of my hysterics.

"Maybe." He scratches the back of his head, ruffling through the newly cropped tresses in a way that is not dissimilar to the way that Harry does, and gives us all a sheepish expression.

The Weasleys have all migrated from the kitchen and into the foyer and, judging by their faces that have yet to witness this. "Sirius, what is this for?" Harry speaks up, ruffling his own black locks in the mirror image of Sirius and then dragging his hand down quickly when he realises this himself. "Why have you gone totally... not you, on us?"

I look at Sirius, his eyes flick to me. They flitter back and forth between us all and house a terrified expression. _He's not ready to tell anyone, do something! _I mentally scream at myself for not remembering faster that I was the only one to know, and jump to his rescue quickly. "I took the piss out of him for looking so dated all the time," I shrug, as the Weasley eyes swivel with shocking precision from Sirius to me, continuing with my fabricated excuse quickly, "I was angry and tired and I guess that he took my insults to heart," I laugh, "And this seems to be his way of fixing it." Sirius relaxes instinctively when he realises that all the attention has fallen from him and he is safe for a little while longer.

"You were only joking?" Sirius locks eyes with me, a small glimmer of thanks radiates from him, but no one else seems to notice, "I thought you were being serious, I spent all this bloody money for nothing?!"

"You look good man," Ron pipes up from his area of the Weasly barrier of spectators, and Harry, Sirius and I manage the drop the attention of the group just like that. Conversation falls and I manage to sneak away into the garden, Sirius following almost instinctively.

* * *

"How's it going?" I ask as I reach the area of the garden where the bike is normally parked. Again, this happens to be another little thing that has me thinking that something is definitely not right. "You bought a car?"

"Yeah, she's a muggle born." He tells me as I admire the dark exterior of the jeep sitting on the patch of grass that is normally taken up by another machine, "She told me she's going to do a lot of things the muggle way, so I'm showing I'm on board with it all."

"Sirius," I speak slowly, climbing into the front seat and examining the white leather chairs, "I know that this is super important to you, but I want you to remember that you have to be honest with yourself throughout all of this. Don't change too much; I still want to be able to recognise you when this is all over."

"I'll always be the same Sirius," He wraps an arm around me, leaning against the car with his feet still on the floor he still manages to stand taller than me when I am sitting on one of the raised seats of the new car. "I'm just growing up a bit."

I nod, "I guess I just always liked the juvenility that you brought with you, even though I never really told you that and I always seemed to end up getting majorly exasperated with you."

He screams a laugh to the night, his hands gesturing wide, "Hermione Granger, I will always be a little stupid, I don't think that it can just disappear overnight."

I laugh with him, kicking my feet into the underside of the chair and feeling like a little girl in need of comforting. For once I don't feel like an in control adult, I feel like a naive, innocent child who has no idea what this man is going through. "I just don't want you to forget us all, you are going to be making a new family and your presence here is so commonplace that not seeing you sitting by with fire with a glass of whisky will just make everything different. Wrong."

"I'll always be here, Hermoine. For you, for Harry, for Ron and Ginny. Everyone. I won't ever abandon my family." He looks to the starts, and we sit in silence as I let his words hover in the air between us. We are a family, an odd one, but one that relies on all the pieces to make sure that we are functioning properly. Nothing would be the same otherwise.

I nod, looking to the ground, "I'm being stupid, sorry."

"I'd feel the same if I saw one of you lot changing so fast." I jump out of the Rover, shutting the door quietly as we turn to walk back to the house, "Enough about me, how are you?"

"Shit," I don't volunteer anything else so he slows his ace until we both fall to a halt – actually, I try to continue my slow progression to the Burrow, but a firm grip on my arm tugging me backwards has me stopping beside him instead.

He nods for me to continue, and then when I don't he decides to convince me to instead, his chosen words are, "Speak to me," and when I still forgo explaining my crappy life to him in favour of silence, he continues, "You helped me so much, and have kept my secret, so why can't you let me help you too?"

"Because my issues are embarrassing, yours are important?"

"Come on, they can't be that bad!"

"I spent the day in a limbo between fantasizing about the youngest Malfoy and starting at his crotch," I spit out, shoving my hands though my hair and waiting for the blush to form on my cheeks. "How can it get much worse than that?"

Sirius looks unaffected, even though my face is blushing like a tomato in the sun, and asks "Did he notice?" I groan, nodding and falling to the ground in humiliation, to say that I am mortified is an understatement

"I'd say you should just forget it," Sirius shrugs, sitting down next to me and playing with one of the laces on his trainers, "If he's a man who has a pretty girl staring at that area of his body and isn't happy about it, then he's not interested in girls." Sirius touches my knee lightly and I look up at him. "I doubt he'd be fretting about it if he got caught staring at you, so just drop it and if he doesn't bring it up then everything is all well and good."

"And what if he does bring it up?"

"Then you have to think of something witty to say in response." Sirius tells me like I should know this, "I always thought you were so good in these situations."

I laugh, rolling my head back and feeling good to let all the stress of the day roll away from me. "Why would you think that?" I ask, tilting my head back down and looking at him instead.

"I had always assumed that you'd been with loads of guys, you never bring them around so I didn't think any of them were serious, but I guess I had always thought that guys would be queuing to get with you." I shake my head.

"You couldn't be more wrong. The last guy I was with was Ron and that was four years ago."

"Really?" He looks puzzled. "That can't be right! What about that guy, the one who's always around at your flat?"

"Kevin? We're just friends."

"You need to get out there more, Hermione. If I weren't grounded, metaphorically speaking obviously, I'd take you to find someone, but as I am being my 'holier than thou' counterpart you'll have to get Ginny to take you out. Find a club, get a guy, sleep with him just for the sake of it. Pretend you are me for a night. Have fun. And, Hermione, seriously just forget about Malfoy. He's a piece of work and just not worth it at all." He walks back inside, leaving me freezing my butt off on the grass outside.

* * *

The rest of the night passes quickly and I find myself stewing over what Sirius said when I get home and am sitting in my living room alone. "Piece of work." Keeps popping up. Everyone seems to have their own judgement over him. I guess he hasn't really offered any evidence to suggest that he is a nice guy, but I guess he just seems to strike me as misunderstood. And I guess I have always been a sucker for people who I think need someone to listen to them, someone to talk to them, to be their friend.

"Are you really that much of an arse?" I find myself asking to the open air in front of myself, not expecting a reply.

But I happen to get one anyway, "Talking to yourself again, Granger?" I jump, I pretty sure it has to be a comical sight and the laughter radiating across the green face of Draco Malfoy – AKA; idiot – sitting in my fireplace confirms this assumption.

"God Malfoy, you freaked me out!" I gasp, sucking air into my lungs and trying to slow my heart rate down so that it's not beating at a rate that could be classed as 'medically dangerous'.

"Can I speak to you for a second, Granger?" He asks, and I have the urge to ask him – rather rudely – why he couldn't have used an owl instead of making me almost wet myself, but I don't.

I nod instead, looking at the clock and seeing that it is nearing eleven. "Sure, come over if you want."

I seems to be analysing what he is wearing through the flames, as his eyes cast downwards, "I'm in my pyjamas." I shrug.

"So am I, you have called insanely late, some people would even call it rude!" I tell him and his hand appears in the flickering flames, he brushes my insult aside and I speak again, "As long as you are not naked, I couldn't care less what you are wearing." I tell him, realising too late that this leaves some pretty wide room for dodgy comments.

He smirks, an expression that the flames happen to make look even more sinister as the light hits him in a certain way. "I think that you would like to see me naked very much, Granger." He says, I flush but thankfully he leaves it at that and I find him clambering through the grate instead.

"What do you need, Malfoy?" I ask as he makes himself at home on the end of my sofa. He flicks a set of files at me and I grab onto them.

He looks at the TV and finds the remote, clicking a button and flicking through the channels as I turn pages determinedly – there are about one hundred pages in the spiral bound file. "These are some things that I need you to read through immediately, I got them last week, but I only remembered today and I need them for tomorrow." He says, not taking his eyes from the Comedy Roadshow that is playing on ITV. He laughs and I stand there watching – I am not admiring, I am observing. _Whatever helps you sleep at night, Hermione. _I find my inner voice berating me for my open 'observing' and I whip my eyes off his slouching form instantly.

"Granger, could you make a start?" Malfoy looks at me, in the process of laughing at a joke and he flashes me the nicest smile that I have ever seen on his face.

I groan, moving to sit next to him of the couch and tucking my feet under my body. I pull a blanket over myself and tuck myself into it, the files fall onto my lap and open on page one. "I don't see how this is appropriate." I tell him, cocking my head to the side and watching him throw his head back, a throaty sound rumbling deep in his throat as he laughs, "You made the cock up, so you should fix it."

"Granger, this is your job." He tells me and I concede. Watching him enjoy himself while watching a muggle program on a muggle telly appeases me.

"I wouldn't have thought you would even know what a TV was Malfoy." I tell him, smiling and flicking through the first few pages.

"Yeah, I did actually listen in Muggle Studies, you know." He smiles, as he pulls his feet up to rest on the couch next to my knees. "I was pretty good at flipping it off and taking notes at the same time." He smiles, in the last ten minutes I have seen Malfoy the most relaxed than I have ever seen him in my life.

This feels odd though. I feel like I have gotten off pretty lightly for the whole 'admiring' him thing and it still feels like he should be poking some sort of fun at me and making humour at my expense. Instead he sits quietly on my sofa with small eruptions of laughter every so often.

At about half one in the morning, I finally finish reading through the text. I have signalled the changes that I think ought to be made with a black brio and a yellow highlighter and I turn towards Malfoy as I close the file with a snap. There is a button that needs to be secured with a elastic so I flip them together and then I look up, ready to hand it over when I find that his eyes are shut, his head lolled back against the sofa cushions in what has to be an uncomfortable manor and his breathing even and thick.

Slipping the file onto the coffee table, I stand from my position on the sofa. After pulling the blanket I had be using over his sleeping form, I lift his head up and slip a pillow underneath it to support his neck.

Leaving him where he is, I flip off the TV with the click of a button and make my way into my bedroom quietly, my bare feet padding against the carpet and a strange chill sweeping over me due to the loss of the comforting embrace of the blanket that I surrendered to Malfoy.

Once in my bedroom, I slip under my covers. The lack of heat has me shivering and huddling into myself until I find a little bit of comfort. Warmth starts spreading quickly and soon I am cocooned within the web of sleep.

* * *

I am woken by Draco Malfoy, a nice sight for the morning. But I'm not a good early riser so being woken by a hopping Malfoy in search of the bathroom is not my ideal wake up call. I shove my thoughts quickly away from the dirty turn they take as I decide just how I would like to be woken up by Draco Malfoy, and I shove my head under my pillow once he has fled down the hall in search of the facilities.

"What are you doing?" I ask as I feel the covers being yanked back a few minutes later, and then a body falls in beside me.

I can feel him shrug as the mattress moves beneath us, "The sofa was uncomfortable." He says, turning towards me and stretching a hand across to my side.

I groan as he pulls one of my pillows out from under my head where I had them double stacked and ask, "So my bed was the next best thing?"

"Yeah, now shush Granger. I'm trying to sleep." He mumbles, I can tell he's seconds away from slumber but I drag my pillow away from him again.

"Go home to your bed!" I hiss, trying to find my comfortable position once more, but I'm still arranging when I find his face way too close to mine when there is the possibility that I have morning breath –though it is not yet morning!

He sighs, pushing his hand past my head and pulling the cushion back towards himself, "I'm already here, and Granger, selfishness is not a nice look on you, sharing is more your thing." His breathing flattens and I find myself thinking myself to sleep in the darkness of the room. Having a male presence in my bed is something new, the way the mattress dips under his weight is different and the sound of his breathing is comforting.

I find myself drifting into dreams with the lullaby of him. And also the startling possibility that what I had passed off as a passing fantasy to myself and Pansy, may not be so quickly passing as I had thought.

* * *

**So what did you think? I hope you enjoyed it :)**


	14. Of Broken Wrists and Dressing Assistance

**Thank you for everyone who read and reviewed the last chapter, i hope that you enjoy this chapter, and please leave a review :) **

* * *

I find it very hard to believe that Draco Malfoy – with all his female conquests – is ever short of company in the morning; therefore I am very much surprised when I find him rolling over and screaming as he sees my face. "Nice Malfoy, you haven't been awake for two minutes and you are already insulting the way I look." I should put it this way; I may not be a morning beauty like those girls in the films, the ones with the big hair and makeup done before they wake, but I can guarantee that I have not turned into a hippogriff over night.

He rolls back over, dragging a hand down his face, the slight stubble causing a little friction – this is where I will stop my observation of his morning look because I fear that I am starting to sound a little... well, odd. "This is a first."

I choke out a laugh, "Not bloody kidding there Malfoy, are you?" I murmur, fuming quietly that he has the balls invade my bed – _my _bed – and then freak out when he sees me lying there... in _my _bed. "And it's not like anything happened."

"_That, _Granger, is precisely what is so odd about this situation."

I smirk, rolling the covers down my body – though on closer inspection of my morning attire I realise that I am wearing nothing but an oversized quidditch t-shirt, so I find myself yanking them up to cover some of my remaining modesty. There really is no point giving him something else to smirk over and shoving him my knickers would be just that. "What? That we didn't have sex?"

He looks at me, grey eyes dancing in the morning light and says the dumbest thing that I have ever heard come out of someone's mouth. "I've never slept in the same bed overnight with a girl before, Granger."

"You must be such a generous lover, Malfoy – 'I'll fuck you but you have to get out before I fall asleep!'" I comment loudly enough for him to hear, ending the last part of my statement with a male undertone that is clearly supposed to take the piss out of him. Deciding that my modesty is not worth the price of sitting here and listening to him muse over the fact that he shared my bed for a whole night without an ounce of sexual pleasure passing between us, I push the covers back and pray that the shirt covers my bum as I strut to the door, calling "Coffee?" Over my shoulder back to where he is still re-evaluating his life between my purple sheets.

"Are you insinuating that I don't show my bed companions a good time?" He asks, a hit of shocked anger lacing his tone. "No one has ever complained about my technique, Granger, if that is what you are saying!"

I look to the ground, realising just how out of my depth I am. A light hearted banter about his sexual acquisitions has quickly stirred something up in my chest. A sort of resentment that I find excruciatingly hard to quash. _Why can't I be one of those girls? _I find myself asking, _what is the difference between me and them? _That is when I steer myself away from the dangerous path of these thoughts. _You have some self respect Granger! Do you want your first time to be taken by someone like Malfoy? Someone who would kick you out of his bed as soon as he was done with you?_

The answer to that is a firm 'maybe'. I have a strange feeling that it would be bloody fantastic to be taken by Malfoy, but as I stand there admiring him – the way his t-shirt pulls over his chest, showing a hint of the muscle hidden beneath, the way that he uses a long fingered hand to push his hair out of his eyes in a way that he knows looks good and the way that he smirks, an expression that seems to come much easier to him than smiling – I realise that he has probably taken a million girls. But none of them like me. Not the bushy haired Gryfindor Muggle born that was always a pain in his arse though school.

No, Draco Malfoy is privy to another world, the sort of world that has supermodels dancing before his eyes. In what kind of world would a man turn down a beautiful experienced supermodel to be with someone like me – a twenty three year old virgin with bushy hair? Not in this one. With this realisation, I slam the coffee down on the table in front of him, push the folders in to his hands and tell him to find his own way out as I make my way down the hall and into the bathroom.

Running a warm shower, I can't help but think about the look on his face as he drifted to sleep the night before. A calm, serene expression. _One that I won't ever be seeing again_.

In my haste to forget, I end up dumping a very large amount of shampoo into my palm and then onto my head where it trails down and drip into my eyes.

The next scene of events, however unlikely – and horrific – they may seem, did actually happen to me. In this very bathroom. With Malfoy observing the whole time.

The soap in my eyes drips, causing a stinging effect which I guess I am not partial to – not that many people are – this, in turn, causes me to swivel round as I try to aim my head under the running stream of water. However, things do not entirely go to plan and I find myself slipping. This would have been ok, if I had not slipped out of the bath. Falling over the rim of the tub, I pull down the shower curtain, land with a sickening thud on the ground, scream as I realise that something is definitely broken and find the door being pushed open. "Granger, are you ok?"

"Do I look ok, Malfoy?" I curse, grabbing my wrist and sitting up.

"Whoa there, Granger." He looks away, trying thankfully to give me _some _dignity. I look down, the shower curtain, the only thing that was shielding my body – albeit not really that well – slipped away when I sat up.

My right boob is sitting firmly in his line of sight, "Oh shit," I reach for a towel, the movement moving my right wrist and causing me to scream out in pain. "Malfoy." I yell, his head flicks to me and then he raises his eyes to the sky when he realises that I have not yet solved my little problem. "The towel." I say, he hands it to me, and I try as best I can to cover myself. He helps me to stand as I cradle my broken wrist to my chest.

He tells me to hold my arms above my head as he notices the towel slipping over my hunched form, I do as he says and he wraps it firmly about my shivering body. "I could heal it for you, but I don't want anything to go wrong." He tells me as he transfigures another towel into a brace that he puts over my hand, "I'll help you get ready and we will go to St. Mungos." He tells me, he's quickly made up his mind and has me following him back to my bedroom as he pulls out a pair of jeans and what looks like one of Harry's old football shirts – you know the ones with the player's names on the back.

He left it here a few months back and it was just so bloody comfortable that I decided to keep it. "Whose is this?" He asks, and then he flips it round noticing a name.

"If you must know, it was Harry's. But you can buy them at any muggle sports stores."

Malfoy looks at me a smirk dancing around his lips as he obviously decides that it is some sort of duty that he takes a look through my underwear drawer while I am in pain. "Why do you have Potter's shirt, I thought he was married?"

"We are having an affair." I joke, laughing at his expression before he realises that I am taking the piss.

I shove him away from the drawer and grab my own pair of knickers. He turns around to give me some privacy as I struggle to get the on. "Oh haha, Granger." He laughs sarcastically as I howl, "Ow, Malfoy it hurts. Do something."

"What do you expect me to do?" he asks, turning around to see that I am still trying to struggle my underwear up my legs. "I have never had to put underwear on a girl before; usually I have to pull them the other way." He laughs to himself as I worry over my hand, and I find myself avoiding his gaze as his fingertips heat my calves, dragging the garment up my body.

"Sod off, Malfoy." I tell him, motioning to the jeans on the bed with my functioning hand, "Help me with my jeans. I sit down on the end of them bed as he slips them over my feet, pulling them up my legs and then joining the button together.

"I guess I'll have to forgo the bra." I tell him as I reach for the shirt. "Ow." I look down, a purple swelling has erupted and it seems to have grown to double its previous size.

"Come on, if I can take them off, I must be able to put them on."

"Ok, but no looking."

* * *

After the awkwardness of him aiding me with the bra situation, he struggles to get my hand through the hole in the t-shirt – with a lot of screaming and death threats from me – and I just can't deal with him having to tie my shoes too, so I grab a pair of blue flip flops and he shuffles me towards the floo.

We step through together, him holding my right hand and making sure that my left is supported so that it was hot getting any more damaged as I sniffle and pretend to be brave when I really just want to let the tears flow.

The hustle and bustle of St. Mungos is not that different to that of a train station at peak times, but here you happen to have the addition of people with very, very odd magical issues. The man ahead of us in the queue is a startling shade of purple, with green pussy boils spluttering on the skin that I can see – both Malfoy and I take an involuntary step backwards as the one on his neck looks about ready to blow.

There is a woman, two people ahead of the man with boils, that has a cat's leg in place of where her own, human one, should be. And a young boy two steps after that – at the front of the queue – supporting a large quantity of hair (wrapped round and round his arms to stop it from trailing on the floor ) that seems not to be showing any signs of decreased growth rate.

I support my wrist as the healer at the desk waves us forward and then mutters 'Floor nine' without even looking at us. "Thank you." I say and after he takes my details I let Malfoy take hold of my waist and walk me towards the lift. "I can walk myself Malfoy."

"Are you sure, you seem to be a walking catastrophe." He smirks, pushing the little purple button (that contrasts starkly with the red walls) and we both stand there and watch it light up. Soon there is a dinging and we both step into the open, empty lift. "And I do need you there to finish the project, after that you can fall anywhere you want – even off a bridge – but until then, you must stay in one piece."

"How lovely you are!" I mutter as he clicks another button – green this time – and we wait for the lift to move. "And I'm mad at you, anyway!"

"What?" He asks, looking at me and waiting for me to answer. "Why?"

"This is your entire fault," I tell him, my logic may seem skewed but when you hear my reasoning, I believe that you will see that I am correct in my judgement. "You came over at an obscenely late hour, demanded that I complete some paperwork that is not going to be handed in on time now anyway, fell asleep on my sofa, woke me up at four in the morning, jumped into my bed, stole one of my pillows, made me so angry that I got soap in my eyes which caused me to fall and that is why we are here!" I push a finger of my good hand into his chest, but it seems to have no effect and instead of cowering under the force of my anger, he just stands there and even has the audacity to smile at me. "So, in conclusion, it is _so _obviously your fault!"

"Yes," He continues to smile, pulling on a curl of my hair and the tucking it away behind my ear, "So obviously my fault." and this is when he starts to laugh, unbearably loud and totally obnoxiously, but all the same I can't help but admire the pulling of his features until I really can see the kind looking Draco Malfoy.

"If you continue to laugh at me," I tell him, my tone harsh as it flows with my words, "I will kill you."

* * *

We end up having to sit in the hospital for a few hours before we are seen. When we are finally called through, the man obviously seems to know Draco from somewhere and they have a conversation while he is waving his wand to fix my hand. Yes, I know. He is chatting while he has control over the way my bones heal back into place. "Would you mind concentrating a little? I do really need my hand."

"Sorry, Miss Granger." He says, turning his brown eyes to fix on my own and I scream as the bones join back into place. "How did it happen?"

Malfoy looks at me, smiling up at the healer and then laughing while he says, "She fell in the shower. She's very clumsy."

The doctor smiles at Draco knowingly, "Yes, and while the shower is a nice place to have sex, it can be dangerous if you are not careful. You could have hit your head, Miss Granger and that could have been harder to heal."

"We were–" I start to speak, to reassure him that we were not engaging in activities with any sort of sexual nature, but I am cut of just after I start to speak.

Draco tucks his hand around my waist and smiles, "We'll stick to the bed next time, Healer Johnson." His expression – if I did not know any better – looks genuine and I am about to whack him with my healed hand but the healer steps in with a 'goodbye' and I have to diffuse my anger to return his farewell.

"Malfoy, you are such a prick."

"One that you can't seem to get enough of, obviously." Malfoy pulls me towards the floo, shuffling us in and saying the name of our offices. "What would the Boy Wonder say if he knew what you were up to, Granger?" I am stopped from replying by the green flames that slither between us and heat the areas he is touching on my body to beyond scorching.


	15. Of Bad News and Night Time Invasions

**I want to say a big thank you to everyone who has reviewed the story so far, I believe that I am about halfway through and I am definitely going to persevere and get it completed.**

**I was going to upload this last night, but i got caught up watching White Collar – god he is so hot! I really hope someone knows what I am talking about :)**

**Just as a warning, Hermione gets some really bad news in this chapter.**

**Oh, And Happy Halloween. I just carved a pumpkin and it looks like a five year old did it. I tried to cut a moon and it was just disastrous - i'm so unartistic that it is unreal!**

* * *

"Have a nice day, Malfoy." I jerk myself away from him as soon as the floo has stopped moving around us. I can still feel my hip and hand blistering from the lick of the green flames as they soldered our body together, and it is frightening beyond belief because he doesn't seem to be feeling anything.

He nods, pushing his hands into the pockets of the trousers that he must have transfigured for himself – I only notice this time because I can't seem to meet his eyes. "You too, Granger."

"You should call me Hermione," I tell him, "We've known each other for fifteen years and you can't even use my first name."

He smiles as we walk together towards the lifts, the grates slide open as we near and we step through them together. "You have only just started to call me Draco, give me some time to get used to it, Granger." He tells me and I smile, "I'm sure we'll get there one day." He gives me one last smile and then gets off at his floor. I watch him until the lift moves up and my vision is obscured by the brick walls of the elevator shafts.

* * *

When i get to my office there are stacks of pages with several post it's stuck to the front. Most hold Malfoy's handwriting and I start sifting through the stacks. It seems like he just never runs out of things for me to read and sign!

I sit in my office for most of the morning. Pansy takes me out for lunch. To a small restaurant of the side of Oxford Street and we both sit and pull out menus. The hour passes quickly and I am soon back in my office examining the quickly growing, accurately scaled model that stands in the corner of the room.

"Granger." Malfoy walks in, "I have some more files." He glides in, flipping his hair out of his eyes and placing a set of manila files on the table in front of me.

"More?" I ask, thumping my head onto the table and holding my hands out to revive the file from him.

"I just need you to sign, but I doubt you won't until you read through them."

I nod, flipping the first one over and scanning through it – quickly, but carefully. "Yeah, I don't want to sign you over my first born child or anything." I joke, laughing to myself but stopping quickly when I realise that he doesn't get the reference, "Sorry, muggle thing."

"I gathered." He smiles. "Should I hang around in case you decided to cut off a finger and are in need of emergency medical attention, or should I leave?"

"Oh haha." I look up, motioning to the door with a finger and I watch as he struts out. I continue watching his retreating figure, until I notice Theodore Nott staring back at me through the glass doors.

* * *

There is a ring. A solid tringing noise that I can't ignore. I am in half a mind to ignore it, to just drop the phone in the bin and hope that whoever is calling gets the hint that I don't really want to talk right now. But I don't.

I pick up the phone and mutter a greeting. "Hermione, I need you." My mother. A sense of urgency clambers its way into my chest as I find myself analysing her tone. The sadness in her voice fills me with panic.

"Mum. What's happened?"

"Hermione, just come to the house." I push away from my chair, clicking the off button on my mobile phone and thrusting it into my bag as I grab a coat and fight my way through a crowd of people milling around the corridors to get to the lift.

I pass Draco on my way, he tries to grab on to my arm, but fails to do so. He yells after me, asking me what's wrong and where I am going, but I ignore him and clamber my way in to the floo. I had my parents house connected last year when they finally gave me permission, so when I step out into their living room neither of them flinches.

They are standing there. My mother and father. My mother in a blue oversized jumper and a pair of jeans, her long brown hair scraped back into a pony tail and tear tracks lining the side of her face. I rush to her, facing off my father as I take a place at her side. "Tell her what you are doing, Richard." My mother forces out through tight lips, her eyes water, tears leak from the corners. "Tell her what's happening."

"I'm leaving." He told me, avoiding my mother's gaze. He looks a lot older than the last time I saw him. While my mother's face becomes more youthful with the presence of grief, by fathers does not. The lines around his eyes tense, becoming deeper rooted, harsher. "I can't do this any more " He paces, pulling a coat over his shoulders and gesturing around himself with his hands as he talks.

I don't know how i should be acting, what I should be saying to resolve the tense situation, so instead I just say the first question that pops into my head. "What are you talking about?" I ask, my posture tense, tears spilling from my own eyes as I move to block the door. I stand there covering it, making sure that he won't get round me without an explanation. Making sure that he knows that he should stay, that _I_ want him to stay, that there are ways to fix this even though there seems not to be any at the moment.

He looks from my mother and then back to me. I can barely even here him over the wreaking sobs falling from my mother. "I've been having an affair, Hermione." He spits out, "For years," he tells me, I don't know what to do. I feel like I should be strong for my mother but everything seems to be shattering around me. "Since before you even went to Hogwarts." I don't know what to do. What to say. I feel like everything is just dripping out of my control. A sob catches in my throat.

All the time I was at Hogwarts and something went wrong, something went bad, I would always think of home. Think of how happy everything was. Now, I realise that this was all a lie. A huge lie. "What?" I choke, stutter and then fall to the ground, clutching my chest and looking up at my parents. Both of them glare at each other, facing each other off and trying to be the one who looks the least affected. "What are you talking about?"

He looks at the ceiling and then turns his gaze back to me. "I haven't been happy for years." he pushes his hand into his hair, a stressful gesture that has be balling my fists. He has no right to be remorsefulness.

"It's your fault then." My mother spits out, her tone harsh, her eyes full of pain. "I tried to make it work, for both of us, for Hermione."

The next phrase seems to slip from his mouth. "I didn't want a child." I sit there as my father spits my existence in my face. The one man that I should have been able to count on my whole life, shoots me in the back. My heart fills with ice. He can't seem to stop the words now. "I never wanted a child. But you forced me into it and I stayed."

"Get out."

He turns to look at me, "What?"

The words slither from my lips easily, even though they are as hard and as cold as ice. "I said, get out." by the end I am yelling. My voice is raised and my eyes are hard as I stare him down. "Now." I know that I have no right to be kicking him out, but the pain soars through me and forces me to do something. To turn of him. To hate him with all of my hear and my being.

The house is cold. All the life and love that I felt growing up is gone. This is it. My father brushes past me, not really acknowledging anything. This was his fault, all his fault. He has a bag in one hand; a large duffel stuffed with jumpers and other articles of clothing that I can see brimming over the top. "Never, ever come back." My mother says, her voice low but forceful all the same. "We will always be better off without you."

There door barely even manages to shut before we both fall to the ground, huddled together and crying. We sit there for hours. The sun passes behind clouds and eventually dips below the horizon. My mother cries for a lost companion, a lost love. I cry for my father. A father who I thought lived me, who I thought would always be there for me. But now I find out that I caused the rift between my parents. I cause the hate and the lies and the despair.

It was all my fault.

All my fault.

"Hermione." My mother speaks, her voice is hoarse and as I look into her eyes I find they are red rimmed too. "You know that I love you, don't you?"

"Of course." I cry into her shoulder.

She pulls me closer, "Never, ever forget that."

She tells me to leave after another hour. Says that she needs to be alone. But being alone in a pit of misery is the last thing that I want.

I apparate back to my flat, and as I stand there in the dark I know that I can't be alone tonight. Despair washes over me causing a dark, hurting feeling to settle in the bottom of my heart as I make the decision to step towards the floo.

"_I never wanted a child." _My father's voice rings in my ear, tear tracks on my cheeks that never really got to dry are dampened again as a new onslaught of hate and anger and misery cascades over me.

"_I didn't want a child." _Plays over and over in my head until I can't think, can't breathe, can't do anything except stumble into the open grate of the floo and pray that I land somewhere with someone who wants me.

* * *

I assumed I would find myself with Harry - or Ron - but, that is not where I land. I end up falling through the grate and into the house of the first person who popped into my head. I look around, the walls are a Slytherin green, the sheets on the bed are a mixture of silver and black, and he is sitting beneath them. They are pulled up to his waist and he's wearing a black t-shirt. "Draco." I sniffle, and to my embarrassment, I collapse to the ground. He's out of the bed – thankfully wearing pants – and has his arms around my body before I can hit the floor.

"Shh," I let him hold me after I get over the fact that in my crying haze the first person that I thought of was Draco Malfoy. He lifts me up, a hand supporting my back and one under my legs as he carries me over to his bed. Though the sheets look a little like tin foil – not that I would ever mention that – they are actually supremely comforting, so much so that it sort of starts to border on ethereal, instead of just perfect. "What happened?"

"I-I-I..." I stutter, my eyes water, my head feel thick and foggy and I don't really know what is happening until I feel his arm snake around my waist and drag me down under the covers until my body touches his. Though I can't seem to find it in myself to enjoy the sensation. Instead, all my focus is on the pain behind my heart.

Pulling me closer still, he begins to mummer into my ear, "Shh, babe." He flattens my hair against my head and for a second I am so shocked at the term of endearment that the tears falter, but then the pain is back. Everything is back and I have no idea what to do to stop it. I feel hopeless, tired and inferior. "You don't have to talk about it, babe." He whispers, pulling me into his chest and breathing deeply. "You are falling into my bed way too often, Granger, and your clothes are always on." He chuckles to himself and I start to join in, hiccuping and trying to hold back a new onslaught of tears, "If you want to keep doing this, you are going to have to start stripping soon." He jokes and I playfully hit his chest, but the tears start falling again, with new vigour.

"I feel like I can't breathe, Draco." I tell him, fisting the material of his shirt and clutching it tightly in my hand.

"It's going to be ok, babe." He whispers into my hair, I find myself relaxing into his arms, the tears still flow but a little less strongly. "Will you tell me what happened?"

I nod into his chest slowly, sucking in a lungful of air as I prepare to walk him through the events of the afternoon. "My parents are getting a divorce." I tell him slowly, "My mother called me while I was at work, she sounded awful, I went over and ...and ...and."

"Shh," He strokes down the length of my back and then back up again, I fist another section of his shirt and push myself into his body.

"And, my father told me in no uncertain terms, that I was never supposed to exist in his eyes." A rush of tears escapes again, forcing their way down my face, "He didn't want me. The only man that I should have been able to trust and he basically told me that he couldn't care less if I went and died in a hole."

"Hermione, listen to me." He drags my face up to meet him with his hand, but he doesn't remove it. He holds my chin between his thumb and forefinger and makes sure to keep my eyes locked with him. "You don't need someone like that in your life. You shouldn't want someone like that in your life. And he's so stupid if he can't see that you must be the best thing to happen to him, ever." I let out a watery smile, he hugs me close.

He sighs, "Your brilliant; smart, kind, perfect..." He trails off and I smile. And then, I remember who I am talking to.

"Are you drunk?"

"No, why?"

"Is your head about to explode? You just handed me four whole complements without a sarcastic remark!" I tell him, the sobbing has quieted. My eyes feel puffy and red and I know that I must look an absolute state.

"I'm trying to be nice."

"Thanks, Malfoy." I tell him, looking up to meet his eyes and then pushing my head back into the hollow between his head and his neck. And then I remember what I am doing here, how I got here, and how I am in a bed with Draco Malfoy. "I'm so sorry, Malfoy." I say, springing back and brushing tears off my face as I clamber out of his bed and rush towards the wall. He jumps out and stands opposite me, and I can tell by the look in his eyes that he is pretty unsure about what just happened. "I feel so stupid! I'm sorry."

"What are you sorry about, Granger?" He asks, walking towards me and holding onto my arms at the elbows.

"You don't even like me and I basically threw my pathetic crying into your face." I tell him, backing away and walking to the floo, "I'm sorry I disturbed you, and thank you for being so tolerable."

"Granger." He grabs onto my arm, pulling me round to face him and dragging me back over to the bed. "I find you tolerable and maybe even enough of a friend. Stay here. I know how it feels to have to lie alone with misery. I won't put you through that."

"You don't have to do this for me. I know your rule. Not sleeping in the same bed with a girl overnight, sexual activities and then out of the door."

"I can make an exception."

I smile before I tell him that, "I can go and bother Harry."

He smiles, motioning to the bed and clambering between the sheets. "It's fine, Granger."

I shake my head, but he's already flipping back the covers and pulling me down between them, "Do I have to dress you and undress you all in one day, or can you sort out bedroom attire for yourself?"

He hands me a green and silver quidditch t-shirt. "I noticed you wearing one last night." He smirks and for some reason I don't question his motives. I just let the sadness overwhelm me and the deepness of his breathing lull me to sleep for the second night in a row.

* * *

**He's so sweet, right :) **


	16. The Library

**Hello, i'm getting quite good at frequent updates. i hope that you guys are enjoying it though and they are not just full of rubbish. :)**

* * *

The whole place seems a lot smaller than the Manor, but still obnoxiously large for a single man – at least I am assuming that he is single because otherwise I am going to have a very angry lady friend on my hands – and as I walk out into the grey carpeted corridor I am a little taken aback. There are black rimmed portraits of his ancestors that eye me as I walk down the corridor – though to their credit, they refrain from commenting on my lack of attire or blood status.

I choose to follow an impulse and head towards the right end of the corridor, my bare feet pad on the carpet runner and as I turn onto a sweeping staircase, I wince. The white marble with grey swirls cutting through the perfection is cold on my toes. I have half a mind to turn back and get a pair of socks but then I remember my flip flops and the fact that I would have to go rummaging through Malfoy's drawers (which I doubt he would appreciate).

I continue down the curved steps and turn to the left. During my walk, I have managed to lose myself within the intricate maze of his home. I pad around, looking for familiar objects to help direct me back to the room, but the truth of the matter is that all the corridors look exactly the same.

I find myself walking along a darker corridor where I encounter a window and something catches my attention. I stare out, the grass stretches so far that it takes my breath away. A hippogriff chews from the ground and I watch as Malfoy walks out towards him. He looks totally at home standing in the garden in his pyjamas; a pair of tracksuit bottoms and a dark grey t-shirt, holding a bucket and striding across his front lawn.

He takes a something from the bucket and bows low before pulling the dead... well, dead something... into his hand and throwing it up into the hippogriffs mouth. I find my way back to a staircase and walk down two more flights of stairs and a couple more corridors, before I find a large, oak front door. "Missies going to be cold." I jump, spin around and find a small house elf standing by the door to my left.

I'm happy to note that she stands there proudly, no bandages any where one her form, in what appears to be a pink sun dress. "That's ok." I tell her, she looks at me and then nods before clicking her fingers. Together, we watch the door swing open and I move to look out, still keeping my feet firmly inside the house.

"Draco!" I call out, causing him to turn. He smiles at me, still feeding the hippogriff at the same time. He tells me to look behind the front door and I find a pair of male wellies. "They are never going to fit." I talk to myself as I pull one on, the size nine swallows my feet and I stand quite ungracefully before waddling to the door and making my way into the fresh air.

* * *

The grass is still damp with dew and it makes patterns across my shoes until they are sodden. Glad that I put them on, I can feel goose bumps fly up my legs. I should have gotten dressed, why didn't I? _That was bloody stupid_, I think as I trudge to meet him in a ridiculously short t-shirt and overlarge wellies.

I bow, low to the ground with my arms outstretched and we both wait for the hippogriff to bow back. "He likes you." Malfoy smiles as I join him beside the hippogriff. With the legs of a horse and the torso of an eagle, this hippogriff is just as intimidating as Buckbeak, but as I stroke his neck and he nudges me with his beak, all the fear is gone. Unlike Buckbeak however, this hippogriff has beautiful red feathers with black hair on his four legs.

I look to Malfoy who is watching me quietly. "What's his name?"

"Rhubarb." Draco laughs at my expression, "I didn't name him." He tells me quickly and I nod, "He was found a few years ago by the Department of Magical Creatures and I decided to let him roam here, I have a licence and everything if you want to check up on me, Granger!" He laughs and I continue to pet Rhubarb gently.

"I remember his case now that you mention it," I smile, "But his name was not Rhubarb, was it Malfoy?" I ask, stealing his smirk as he smiles sheepishly at me.

He turns me around, not answering but instead pulling me face to face with another two beautiful creatures. Two winged horses take slow, quiet steps towards me, bringing their heads to my fingertips and smelling softly. They are magnificent and I stand there in silence as I watch them tuck back their feathered wings. One is a tawny brown while the other is a deep grey, almost black. "These two are Jessica and Titan." He points to the brown and grey one in turn, as they both step forwards like they can understand him. "They are never usually _this_ forward with people." He smiles at me, "And they have definitely never come to the main grounds to meet anyone before."

They move to stand closer as they begin to rip tufts of grass out of the ground. "They are beautiful." I smile, and he turns me to walk closer to the tree that stands about a hundred yards off. There is only one standing in the wide, open grassy space, but there are many more ringing the field. We are definitely not in London anymore. "Where are we?" I ask as we continue to move towards the lonely tree.

"Wiltshire." He smiles, "The Manor is half a mile in that direction," He points North. "I had this house built when I turned eighteen. Mother and Father still live in the Manor." I think back, remembering how both of his parents received house arrest for four years, as well as the Lord of the Manor receiving four years in Azkaban. Most people believed that they got off too lightly, but Narcissa aided us during the war, and apart from the Mark on Lucius Malfoy's arm, there was very little evidence against him. Either he didn't commit any crime apart from just being a death eater, or he covered his tracks so well that there was no evidence against him. He was aided in his sentence also by the fact that it was obvious that- though bigoted and a bit of an arsehole – he was an arsehole who did what he had to do to protect his family, unlike many of the other death eaters.

"Huh," I smile, the horses and Rhubarb are still following us up towards the tree as we walk, "Don't you get lonely, just like this poor tree must, Malfoy; look at it, all alone in the middle of all this grass." I'm joking obviously and he laughs along with me.

"The tree and I have each other for company, Granger." He tells me and I nod. Thirty metres from the tree, there is a ring of light lining the ground. A small smouldering that Malfoy and I are able to pass, but the horses and the hippogriff stop, watching us as we continue to step forwards. "The ring of fire belongs to Flame." We walk around the tree until we find a hollowed out space, a large carved hole – about a metre squared with a rounded top and a stand. On the stand, a phoenix, Flame, looks to me.

I look to him and grin, he smiles back. "Malfoy, you have a phoenix?" I ask, my hand moves on its own until I am touching Flame's feathers. They are soft like silk and he scares me by hopping onto my wrist. He uses his claws to grip on as he shuffles up to my arm to a place that he finds more secure.

"I adopted all these animals from your division at the Ministry. They were all mistreated and I decided to take care of them." He smiles at me, moving closer to stroke Flame, and then he cocks his head to the side and watches me. "How are you this morning?" He asks, a lump forms in my throat and I swallow it back.

"Better than last night." I tell him, holding onto my tears by the smallest thread, I have to gulp in a lungful of air and look to the sky to make sure that I don't let any fall. "I'm sorry again, for barging in on you like that."

He smiles, moving a hand to grab onto my waist and squeeze it gently, "I told you to forget it," he clicks his tongue and Flame flaps his way back to his perch. "If you want my animals to move to the sanctuary when it opens, I don't mind."

"These are yours." I tell him, "They look happy here and they make you happy, I wouldn't ever dream of taking them from you." We walk back to the house, the horses escort us to the door as soon as we pass through the ring of fire and then keen, pawing at the ground until we turn to watch them. They bow low, one leg out front as their heads reach the close to the ground.

Malfoy watches me silently, the he takes my hand and together we make our way up the steps and in through the front door.

He leads me to the bathroom where we wash our hands and then we walk together to the ground floor dining room where plates of food are already laid out on the table. "I didn't know what you wanted, so I just told them to make everything." He motions to the stacks and towers of food.

"It looks great!" I smile, my stomach growling in thanks and I watch him as we walk to opposite side's f the table. It is a good ten metres in length between the two ends, but in width it is only about a metre and a half wide so we are close enough to chat. We sit on the end closest to a wall of windows. And I smile as I notice the horses grazing.

"They never usually stay," He tells me. I reach over to his side to grab a piece of toast and he grabs my hand. "'Oh, Malfoy you are the best,' you want to eat then you have to say that?"

"Arsehole." I tell him and I stretch my fingers to grab the toast anyway.

Smirking, he says, "Uh uh uh," He takes it from me and bites into it, "'Malfoy, you are the best'. Say it, Granger."

I shake my head adamantly. "I will not." He doesn't look fazed, we sit watching each other for a few seconds until I speak again, "Thank you, Draco." I say instead, all traces of jokiness gone from my voice. "Thank you for helping me when I needed it."

"You're welcome, Hermione." My grin widens as he speaks my given name. I am going to draw attention to it, but then I decide that it is probably best to ignore instead of scaring it away.

* * *

"So, what do you want to do today?" He asks between taking bites of the toast he stole from my hand. I twist my gaze away from the stack of blueberry pancakes sitting on the plate in front of me and look up at him instead.

"Malfoy, we have to go to work." I tell him, looking to the large clock standing against the far wall – a wall painted green. "You gave me a deadline and if I am going to meet it than I really should be working today."

He shakes his head at me, blond hair dipping into his eyes and making him reach up a hand to push it back from his face. "I've already told Pansy that you have the day off, you had a hard time yesterday and I am not going to make you sit alone in an office for six hours," he smirks at me over a large glass of orange juice. "She warned me not to try anything because you have a hot date with Nott, or was that Zabini?"

"What?" I sputter, my fork clatters to my plate and Malfoy sits there laughing. "That is not true." I know exactly why I wanted to make sure that he was aware that everything Pansy had told him about my_ hot _date is a lie. I realised at some point over the last two days that what I assumed was a passing fancy, is not so much passing as... well, staying. Even so, I know that I shouldn't mention my growing affections for him because I have been warned more than once that he will not reciprocate any of these 'not so fleeting' feelings.

"Good, they are both idiots that you should not trust with a galleon let alone anything more important."

"Couldn't I say the same about you?"

I lean back after having devoured quite a few pancakes and am very close to bursting point. Draco opens his mouth to speak. "I don't think you can, Granger." He smiles at me, "Remember who you came to when you needed someone. That takes a lot of trust." With this he stands, holding out a hand and when I take it he pulls me to my feet and drags me out of the room and up the stairs.

The walk back to his bedroom is much shorter than the trek around this castle like home that I went on this morning, and he pushes me into the room in front of him. Suddenly, I am dangerously aware that I am in Draco Malfoy's – womanizer extraordinaire – bedroom and he hasn't tried anything with me. Obviously, I am just that unattractive to him.

He pulls out a pair of what look like muggle football shorts and hands them to me, along with a t-shirt and some socks. "Get dressed." He tells me and I walk into the en-suite bathroom to strip off and change into his baggy clothes. He really bulked up over the years from the tall, skinny boy he used to be back in Hogwarts.

"I look ridiculous." I tell him as I step back out into the main room and find that he is in almost identical attire to me, though my overall judgement is that he looks a hell of a lot sexier than I do. I start rolling up my shorts so they hang higher than to my knees and I take the hoodie he offers me. "I could just go home and get changed."

"Do you think I am stupid?" He asks me, pushing me out of the room in front of himself and twisting me to the left. "You would run straight off to work." He smiles, "This way, I know that you are taking your well deserved break."

I look to him and ask, "What are we going to do today then?" he leads me down another set of corridors until they start changing from the universal grey that is all I have seen so far.

The carpet in this section of the house is a deep blue and I follow him as he pushes open a set of double doors. I step through, gasping in awe as I look around me.

He smiles, grabbing my hand and pulling me inside, "I thought that I could show you the best room in the house." Stacks and stacks of books line the walls; his own personal library.

He pulls me between the stacks, taking me up a winding set of steps and then another set that splits into two at the top. Every level of the library is different. There are four in total and they change as I climb. Malfoy stays on the third floor as I continue up.

As the first floor changed into the second floor, the carpet turned into a rich red and the stacks turned into floor to ceiling shelves piled with books of all colours and sizes. Draco pulls me up the large set of steps that splits off two ways as you make the way to the top, and here the walls are stone, the unfinished looks makes it that much more enticing. Draco stops here. He lets go of my hand and I turn to the left, finding another staircase that continues to move its way up.

As I move my way up a small round set of stairs that wind steeply, I hold onto the rail with one hand. I push open the glass door and the floor on this level is much smaller. I step in, the colours are overwhelming and I move closer to the shelves.

Pulling down book after book I realise that level four is dedicated to his childhood. Books all with the name 'Draco Malfoy' scribbled messily into the front pages. I sit with my back against the corner. I realise that finding myself immersed in the literature of Malfoy's youth is probably not the best right now for my mental stability. I pull the books from a lower shelf towards me and place the stack at my feet.

Flipping through the first one I find a story about a family; a mother and father who _care_. I have half a mind to rip it up and realise that I should move before I happen to deface the entire room. But, I don't. Repressed tears from the last hour trickle down my cheeks. I flip through the stack until I find a book about a rabbit. I remember someone mentioning it to me at some point. Maybe it was Ron. Or Teddy.

I cry silently for all the lost pages of my childhood while I sit here surrounded by Malfoy's. "Granger?" I hear his voice move closer to me. "Are you ok?"

I swipe away tears, hopping I don't look as pathetic as I feel. "Yeah, I'm fine." I smile at him and as he sits down, he places an arm around my shoulders, pulling me into his side.

"I forgot, I'm sorry."

"You have nothing to apologize for." I smile at him, resting my head on his chest and shutting my eyes as another few tears dribble out. "You're so spoilt, you know?" I laugh, gesturing around me.

"Hey! What happened to my book?" He picks up the discarded book on families and I smile up at him sheepishly.

"It flew out of my hands; you should have it checked for curses before it damages the whole place." I say and he smiles.

He nods, pulling me up and waving his wand so all the books jump back onto their shelves. "A likely story." he pulls me back downstairs after handing me a tissue from his short pocket and I wipe at my eyes quickly so that all traces of tears are gone.

"I feel like I'm a mess every time I see you." I laugh, "The first time; I had a slight underwear situation–"

He laughs, "I remember that," He says as he cuts me off; continuing quickly, "The whole office could see your bra,"

"Shut it! Anyway, then I have a go at you. Then I fall out of the shower and crack my wrist before I decide that falling out of _your _fireplace is the best idea for both of our sanities sake."

"Always a mess." He agrees as he takes books from shelves and stacks them into my arms.

I look at the titles, "What are you doing?"

"They are books that I'd like you to read." He says and I hand him back two or three out of the growing stacks after telling him that I had already read them. After we have a sizeable stack between the two of us, he leads me to the back of the second floor where there are three plump sofas covered in shiny black leather.

He waves his wand and two of them move to face each other lengthways, half a metre of space between them. "This should hopefully cheer you up, a day doing all of your favourite things."

"All we are doing is going to be reading,"

He smirks a Malfoy smirk, "That's all you like doing, isn't it? You are bloody boring."

I laugh, waiting as he settles the books in a stack between the two sofas. One stack for each of us. "Thanks, Malfoy." I reply sarcastically. He pushes me to sit, and he lies down on his own sofa, facing me.

"I could've taken you to see more of the gardens, but I thought you would enjoy this more and it is your day after all, isn't it?"

"Why are you being so nice to me?" I ask, suddenly suspicious.

"I like seeing you out of your comfort zone is all." He replies and then grabs a book from the stack closest to him and flips through to the first page.

* * *

"You are out of your mind, Granger." The debate flying between us seems to be at a standstill. Moving back and forth for the last half an hour has gotten us nowhere fast.

"No you are!" I spit back, placing a finger between the pages to make sure I don't lose my place and flop my head back onto the cushions staring at him.

He kicks his feat off the sofa arm and sits up. "Vampires should not be allowed into society." He hits his hand onto the cushion next to his body in anger, though I can tell by the fire in his eyes and the frustration marring his features, that he is enjoying having someone to duke this out with.

I shake my head at him; he watches me through narrowed eyes and waits for me to reply. "You are being discriminative!" I tell him, "They should be just as much part of society as wizards, witches, veelas, werewolves and other magical beings."

He stands, pacing in front of me. Throwing his hands out in front of his body in frustration and shaking his head, "They are dangerous, they can't help killing people."

"Veelas can be much more dangerous when their mates are threatened, and at the full moon werewolves are known to bite innocent humans and even kill."

Draco's hands grip the back of the sofa, pale in contrast to the leather. "They are less in control of their lusts and cravings, with the right conditions veelas and werewolves can be much less dangerous – the veelas mate calms them and potions reduce the risk werewolves pose to society at the full moon – there is nothing that can be done to control the blood cravings of a vampire."

I smile, standing up and moving to sit on the couch he claimed for himself, I kneel upon it, placing my hands next to his and stretching up so that we are almost eye level with each other, "You are just angry because they are so much better looking that you'll ever be," I smirk, watching him grip the sofa tighter in response.

I wait for a biting remark, but instead he just says, "You wouldn't want a vampire, Granger."

"And how would you know what I want, Mr. Malfoy?" I smirk; cocking my head to the side and watching the light catch the silver pupils.

* * *

**So i hope you guys like it? Please review to tell me what you think. oh, and i know that Lucius Malfoy would usually be in Azkaban for life, but i want him in the story, so bare with and i promise there is a reason for his freedom! :) **


	17. In the Malfoy Lake

**I hope that you guys like this chapter :) **

**Thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter :) They all made me smile. And thank you evie55 for pointing out a hysterically bad spelling mistake :)**

**Hope you guys like it and review :)**

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I wait, kneeling up so our faces are so close. Close enough for me to feel his minty breath run over my mouth, but not close enough to seem like I am pushing myself on him. The ball is totally in his court - though, I have to point out that it is a bit obvious that I am putting myself out there. How many girls not interested in him would shove their lips so close to his?

"I just do." He says cryptically, and I breathe in deeply. We are so close that if he just moved his head a few inches forwards, we would be kissing.

_Kiss me. _

_Kiss me, now. _

_Go on! _I'm basically begging in my head, absolutely pathetic.

Praying to every God and deity that I have ever heard of, doesn't seem to be helping because he doesn't press him lips to mine. "Let's get you some lunch." He smiles, pulling away and as soon as he does all the tension in my chest dissipates. It was the fiery kind of tension. The kind that pushes you to the edge and makes you want to jump, but Draco Malfoy obviously doesn't want to jump with me. Instead he doesn't even wait for me and he walks out of the door. "Come on, Granger."

"Yeah." I sigh, flopping back down onto my chair and looking at nothing in particular. _You get me all flustered! _I shout at him in my head. _You made me think that you were going to kiss me and you didn't!_

He pokes his head back through the door, "Granger?" I stand and follow him out into the stair well, we make out way back into the main house and I follow him down into the dining room to where I am met by another table load of food.

The smell is so enticing that we both sort of gravitate towards it, moving simultaneously until we are sitting and tucking in. "Is Master to be wanting anything else?" Draco looks to me in question and I shake my head.

Draco flicks his gaze off of me and then back to the small house elf standing to his right. "That will be all, thank you."

We eat in silence. Draco seems to be thinking... and me? Well, I can't even breathe – let alone look at him – after the way my thoughts turned pretty x-rated up in the library, I was so close to throwing myself on the couch and screaming out of frustration. I don't think it is fair that he is so fucking perfect all the time and I have to sit here and struggle through my own thoughts because I can't seem to get my head out of the gutter.

The tension seems to fizzle out after lunch is over and Draco has another, genuine looking, smile on his face, "Let's go outside." He says and he walks to the left, instead of to the main door, and we walk until he opens another – smaller – oak door and he pushes me out into the sunshine. The rain and mist from a few weeks ago has disappeared and left us with some uncharacteristically hot and bright weather. "It's a shame to waste the heat." He smiles, grabbing my hand and pulling me down the three marble steps to the grass. He accio's my shoes and then, with a swish of his wand, hands me a pair of trainers.

He motions with his hand and takes off at a jog. "Come on, I want to show you the lake."

"There is a lake?" I ask, jogging after him.

"Yeah," He tells me, "Straight on through the trees." He points a finger, "Last one there has to be dunked in the lake." He tells me, taking off at a sprint. I stand there watching his marvellous form run away.

* * *

"Come on, Granger!" Draco Malfoy – the definition of aristocracy and composure- yells back at me, running through the moors surrounding the forest enclosing his house; careless, carefree and just... well, just utterly perfect. Carefree is not necessarily a trait that I usually associate with Draco Malfoy, but it is a nice one to see marring his usually angular features. "Ooh!" He dodges around and tree and then turns to look back at me, continuing to run backwards all the while – bloody arrogant, git. "I'm going to beat the great Hermione Granger at something!" He grins at me, turning back around and continuing to sprint off into the distance.

"In your dreams, Malfoy!" I scream to his retreating figure and I do something that I know Draco Malfoy is going to make me regret with all of my being. I pull out my wand and yell out a curse. A jelly legs jinx that has him wobbling in front of me. I hold my sides and jog past him, almost doubled up with the effort of trying to hold in the snorting laughter urging to break free. I give up eventually and let it burst from me. I turn and stick out my tongue at him.

Malfoy laughs along with me, but I can see a teasing, dangerous expression that has shivers dancing up my spine. When I look back again, the jinx has worn off and he is chasing me. I scream, trying to speed up, breaths rip out of my lungs trying to take in more and more oxygen.

I can feel him catching up, I throw my hands out in front of me as he wraps his hands around the dip between my butt and my thighs and drops me in a rugby like tackle. I can see the grass jumping up to meet me, but before I can be shoved into the hard, unforgiving earth, I slam into a harder – in a totally ripped, toned, sort of way – surface. Draco Malfoy's chest cradles me for a second before he grips my hands and pushes me over.

He glares teasingly at me, but all I can feel and think about it the one hand gripping my wrist and the other trailing up my body from its position on my hip, until it too meets my wrists locked together above my head.

The one thing running through my head – and no I am definitely _not_ proud of it – is; _Take me, take me now. _But obviously he doesn't, and instead he wrestles with my grip until my wand falls into his palm. "No more Slytherin tactics from you, babe." He smiles, jumping up and I lie there, in the grass, wishing that he was pressed to my body again but with a much smaller barrier between us; such as, nothing for example. Then I whack my head into the grass. _It's just the effect he has on people! He just has girls dropping their knickers all over the place, and you want to JOIN IN with all the other idiots! _I mentally berate myself, though it is sort of half heartedly.

I push myself from the ground, Malfoy is about fifty meters away from me now and I can see the lake stretching out in front of us. I spring on the balls of my feet and run. Honestly, I don't feel like he was putting his best effort into this. His legs stretch on for miles – he's at least six two – and I stand at an unimpressive five six compared to him, so with his height advantage he should not have been running by my side for most of the race.

I run. He reaches the lake before I get there and catches me up into his arms as I make it. I scream, trying to kick out and make him put me down, but then he just says, "Granger, I think the deal was, the loser gets dunked!" He smirks, evil. Pure. Evil. And rips of my trainers and his own, before carrying me out into the middle of the sparkling, clear, perfect water.

* * *

His shorts fail to have a good water retention and start slipping as he wades out into the Lake with me clasped in his arms. As much as I want to see what lies beneath them, I reach my hands down and pull them back up to his hips, "Getting comfy there, Granger?" He asks and I flush.

"Just saving your modesty." I tell him, "If I was getting comfy I would have pushed them down." I wink. I don't know how I could possibly make it any clearer, so I guess it just means that he obviously is not interested in the slightest. I decide to ignore it and laugh, "Go on then!" I say, throwing my hands out wide and arching my back until my hair tickles the water. He stands in it, up to his waist and, so far, I'm not yet wet. My feet are locked around his waist and I stretch my back running my fingertips along the surface of the water.

The rippling waves surround us and he holds completely still. "Granger?" He says, and I lift myself back up. Suddenly, he leans forwards, shoving my head through the surface and trying to stay up. But, I determinedly hold onto his neck, until he falls on top of me. Then, he pulls me back up - sharply.

"NO!" I say and... I've lost the shorts. Even more HORRIFYING, I've lost my knickers too. Apparently grip is lost when garments are immersed in water. The top floats up around my waist due to its large size and, suddenly, I'm wishing for the murky waters of the Hogwarts Lake, instead of the crystal clear waters I stand in now. "Turn around!" I screech, fumbling until I grip the sodden material and pull it up. "I even pulled yours up for you!" I say, jumping onto his back and trying to push him under.

His superior height and strength, has him swinging me round to his front and dropping me again, this time he latches on to my shorts, holding them in place until I am standing in front of him again. "Sorry, Hermione." he bites his lip, cocking his head to the side and trying not to smile.

All anger dissipates when he uses my given name. Even I have to work hard not to start laughing.

We stand in the middle of the lake; soaking wet, being heated by the sun, close enough that when we breathe our chests meet and breathing in with the same fast tempo. His hands still have a hold on my shorts, slipping under my shirt and causing shivers as his fingers dance on my bare skin.

The water cradles me, holding me, supporting my weight as he effortlessly hoists me up onto his waist. My legs locking once more around his hips as I drink it all in; the feelings, the sensations of his fingers on my body moving from the skin of my waist to the very tops of my thighs as he holds me, of his breath running over my skin. All the feelings I felt in the library, but a hundred times stronger. Because this time, this time here in the middle of the Lake, _he_ started it. _He_ pulled me closer. _He_ held me to his body.

He dips his head. _This is it. _I think, my stomach dancing at the prospect. My heart beats like crazy in my chest and I can feel his heart meeting mine, beat for beat.

Our lips mesh; my hands lace around his neck while his hands grip me tighter, pulls me closer to him. His lips move delicately against mine, like I'm going to push him away.

Not to sound clichéd or anything, but it's perfect.

Everything that you'd want it to be.

Everything that I wanted it to be.

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**I still gave you a kiss, just not when you thought there would be. I hope that you guys are liking it so far. I was going to update yesterday but i had the worst headache ever. so sorry again, and please drop a little review. **


	18. Back To Reality

**I'm so sorry about the wait, but everything has just been so hectic, and on top of all of that, my computer had a moment - which lasted for several days - but i think it's gotten over it's temper tantrum now... well, hopefully. I haven't really read through it, because i am trying to post it before something happens to the computer again! Hopefully i can get the next chapter up soon. **

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Eventually, we both have to surface for air, and when we do, neither of us can stop the stupid looking grins that shine on our faces. I push his damp fringe out of his eyes and am happy to see a beautiful, liquid silver dancing in them. He chuckles slightly before latching his lips back on to mine and then throwing us both into the water. Unlatching my legs from his waist, I try to resurface as the shock of water in my open eyes makes me sputter. "Idiot." I laugh, before he's gripping me again and cupping my cheek with one of his hands.

I jump up, throwing my legs around his waist and pushing down on his head. What I expect to happen – namely, that he sinks like a rock – does not, and I find it insulting that he looks like I am having no effect what so ever. He could at least pretend! "Having fun there, Granger?" He asks and I huff, sticking out my bottom lip and giving him my best glare.

"If you had even a bit of kindness in your heart, you would sink!"

He throws himself backwards, "Happy?" He laughs as he resurfaces.

"The moments gone now." I tell him, laughing along with him because he really does look sexy with beads of water glistening in his hair. I lift up my hand and splash him in the eyes, laughing.

"I honestly don't understand why you are not running!" He tells me, looking around and then turning back to face me. "If I were you I'd be running as fast as I could!" he gives me a two second head start, and I use the time wisely, ok, maybe not that wisely. I could have streamlined a bit more, instead I decide to flap around and create a lot more resistance so I am really not going anywhere. I can tell he is slowing himself down to drag it out a little more, but my heart is not really in it.

If I am honest, the last thing I want right now is to run away from him. I want his arms around me. Holding me. So this is really moving in the opposite direction to my liking.

Suddenly, I turn around and we – though this was not the desired outcome – smack into each other. How was I supposed to know that he would be crouching down to my height? "Ow, Granger!" he clasps his head with a hand and the shoves one around my waist, pulling me closer and smirking. "You haven't really understood the concept of 'running away', have you?" he pulls my hand off my forehead and touches the bruise gently. He is bloody hard headed!

"Eh." I wave my hand, shrug and then smile, "I don't want to run from you right now."

"Humn?" He smirks, "What do you want to do with me, then?"

I blush under his heated gaze, "I'll race you back to the edge." I tell him, pushing him away with a hand – not that he goes anywhere, but I nearly faint due to the ripples of muscle that clench under my touch – and then trying to sprint back through the water. For once – though I am not sure if he is letting me win – the fact that I am smaller may be working in my advantage. I pull myself out of the water, keeping a firm grip on my shorts while I do so, a second before him. "I win!"

I throw my hands up, thankfully the shorts stay put, and Malfoy grabs me around the waist holding me to his body and dropping us both to the ground.

"Hi." He smiles, his breath runs over my face resulting in a shiver that emanates from deep inside me.

I smile, relishing in the look of lust that burns within his eyes and for once I don't feel like I am not pretty enough to deserve him. I feel beautiful the way I am, because no one could feel ugly under the want fuelled stare that he fixes on me. "Hi," I say, the words just leaving my lips before his meet mine. Catching the words and holding them between us.

* * *

"Draco?" His head snaps up, and we both stand – I'm now very aware, standing before his father, that my t-shirt is see-through and we are both soaking wet. Dripping onto the grass while his father stands there in an impeccable suit, holding a snake topped walking stick and supporting a blond haired woman on his arm. Draco's mother and father stare, and we stare back. None of us really knows what to say.

"Hermione Granger." Draco's mother is the first to move, holding out a delicate hand and I move mine to meet it. "I'm Draco's mother, Narcissa Malfoy. It's a pleasure to meet you." I gather from this, that we are ignoring the past and progressing from here. She still has a slight upturn of her nose, but otherwise seems to be taking this in pretty well.

"It's nice to meet you, Mrs. Malfoy." I smile, trying to ignore the fact that Draco and I look like two berated teenagers standing here is football shorts and over large t-shirts, while his parents look like the King and Queen. "Mr. Malfoy." I hold my hand out to his father and he shifts his cane to the other hand before moving his to meet mine – gaining much of my respect in the process.

"Mother, Father." Draco looks at each of them, "What are you doing here?"

"With such nice weather, we fancied a walk." His mother smiles, I'm not sure if it meets her eyes or not – the Malfoy family in general seem to have really cold eyes when not over zealously happy. "Unless you are otherwise occupied," His mother glances at me, raising her eyebrows and then turning her attention back on to her son, "We will see you for dinner tonight." With that command, she turns on her heel and marches back across the grounds in the opposite direction from Draco's house – assumedly back towards the Manor.

Draco looks to me, "Sorry about that." He smiles weakly, trying to gauge whether this is a deal breaker. "They try, but sometimes it takes them a little while."

"No, I understand." I smile at him, ripping my eyes away from the Lord and Lady of the Manor as they continue with their quick retreat. "I should be going anyway." I tell him,his grey eyes are far from the harsh look that they usually hold, instead they are a weak silver; beautiful, and it takes me a few seconds to realise that I am staring and that I should probably speak. I lift his hand in mine, and look at the watch on his wrist, it's already four thirty. "I told everyone that I would go to the burrow for dinner, better break the news of my day long absence."

"You don't have to leave just because of my parents." He tells me, imploring with his eyes that I understand their behaviour and that I don't link their reactions to him. "We can have dinner together."

I laugh, sitting down on the ground and tying up the laces of my 'flip flops turned trainers'. "You, my friend, have plans." I remind him, shoving his shoes into his chest and then watching him tie them up gracefully. Everything he does seems to be graceful. I assume it is a grace you are born with, because otherwise I guess I have no excuse for the clumsiness that I behold. "And, so do I."

"Ok." He smiles, pulling on my hand as he tugs me back towards his house.

* * *

"I had fun today, Hermione." He smiles, walking me to the floo and handing me a small pot of green powder which I take a handful of.

I look at him, holding my jeans and t-shirt from yesterday in my hands, and dripping all over his floor. "I guess I'll see you Monday." I smile, he leans his head down to kiss me, I press my lips up into his and wrap my hands around his neck.

He pulls his head away, "Let me take you out on a date." He says and I am in the process of saying yes, before I remember this weekend's plans. Plans that involve Sirius and an unborn baby. Plans that shouldn't be broken, even though I'm dying inside to have to say no.

"I can't." I tell him, "I have plans, but next weekend works."

"Next weekend it is then." He says and I nod, pulling him down for one last kiss and then backing away.

Shouting into the flames and dropping the powder, I find myself back in my living room. I sigh, sinking to the ground with a happy smile on my face before I hear footsteps and a cocky, "Where have you been, love?"

* * *

"Sirius." I clasp a hand to my chest, looking up and realising that he is sitting on my couch. And also noting that he saw me hold myself and fall to the ground, sighing. "You scared the crap out of me."

"You scared the crap out of me!" He stands, walking towards me and taking in the damp clothes, the – I assume, stupid looking – expression on my face and the way that I can't seem to look anywhere without blushing, like I have some dirty secret that I have to hide. "I came to look for you last night, sat here for ages and you never turned up. Came here again an hour ago and no sign of you!"

"How do you know that I wasn't with a guy?"

He scoffs, waving a hand to dismiss the notion and I flush. _Rude. _I could get a guy. I did in fact! "This is you we are talking about, Hermione." _ERR! RUDE, AGAIN! _

I decide to slap him back down, so I raise an eyebrow and turn to him with an over the top hand gesture, "For your information, I was with a guy." I tell him, his eyebrows raise and he gives me a cocky, insinuating smile, "Not in that way, you idiot!" I push him slightly.

"Then in what way, Ms. Granger?" He asks, moving to sit on a stool as I walk into the kitchen. I hand him a glass of wine, _God I really need some, _I find myself thinking.

"I got some bad news," I tell him, "My parents are getting a divorce." I find myself having to explain the ins and outs of a divorce, because marriage in the magical world is binding forever. There is no need for a divorce.

"You always have me, Hermione." He smiles and says this after I tell him that my father might as well be dead because I have decided that there is no place in my life for such an idiot. Sirius clasps one of my hands in his and holds it between firm fingers.

"You are going to have a baby of your own soon Sirius," I remind him, "You are not going to have any time for me." I laugh and pull my hand away from him.

"I will always have time for you," He looks at me, and I start to laugh. I can't help it. Sirius; wearing a polo shirt and dark jeans _and _acting like an adult! It's too much. "Hey!"

"Thanks Sirius," I tell him, and I feel like everything is alright with the world now. Something that Draco managed to get rid of for a day, Sirius has banished from my mind with a handful of words. "What did you need me for, anyway?"

"I need your help with something," He tells me, he plays with a line in the wood on the table and looks at me seriously. "I don't think I'm making much progress on the whole baby front, and I was thinking that maybe I should get her something for the baby... to show I'm genuine about changing and about wanting to be a part of my child's life, but I don't know what to get."

"I said I would come with you to see her on Saturday, we can go into Diagon Alley before we see her, and we'll find something," I reassure him, I hate to see anyone this down, but seeing the usually happy, 'nothing will ever faze me' Sirius Black upset, is just too much. "Or better yet, we can take a trip to London, and find something in one of those shops."

"Thanks Hermione."

* * *

**So, what do you guys think. please review :) **


	19. Amiable Traits

**Hey guys, sorry for the wait, i hope you like :)**

* * *

"Are you ready to go?" I'm about to have a fit! What has happened to knocking? To common courtesy and socially acceptable! He stands by my fireplace, taking in my current state of dress and then shielding his eyes.

Jumping behind the sofa and clasping the towel tighter around my body, I send him my best glare, "Do I look ready?"

"We said ten thirty!"

He looks back up and I flick my hand to get him to turn away, after he has moved to face away from me, I make a run for my bedroom and scream back down the corridor to him, "And it's ten to ten! Do you not have a clock in your home?"

I can hear Sirius' exaggerated sigh from his place in my living room, "But I like to be spontaneous!" The TV moans to life and I realise that he hasn't come around early just to be his usual, annoying self, no... He has invaded my home to commandeer my TV and watch... What is that? It sounds like some sort of cooking programme!

"People really need to stop bouts of spontaneity that put me in horrifyingly awful situations." I mutter; thinking back on my hideously awful few weeks. Suddenly, I find myself hoping that Malfoy likes being embarrassed, otherwise our relationship is certainly not going to work out (and then the thought of Draco Malfoy flushed red in embarrassment - with some sort of dessert falling through his hair and onto his ridiculously expensive dress shirt, in a ridiculously expensive restaurant to boot - just makes me crack up!)

He doesn't reply, instead I can just here directions to some amazing sounding salmon dish radiating around my bedroom. My stomach growls and I find myself wishing I had some sort of gourmet dish sitting in front of me, even though it is still only ten to ten in the morning. Never too early for a good steak is it - or maybe a full on roast, I could do with that!

I pull my thoughts and stomach back into my food-empty reality and pull of a pretty navy dress with a white collared neck line, and a pair of black heels. After applying an assortment of facial products - courtesy of Ginny Weasley... I still have her written directions on how to use each particular cosmetic product taped to the inside of a drawer - and pulling my manageably straight hair (also courtesy of Ginny and a blue potion in a bottle) into a pony tail, I find a knee length black jacket with a belted waist and walk out into the corridor.

"I'm ready to go."I tell him, walking out into the living room and seeing him switch off the TV when he thinks I might catch a glimpse of the programme, "I expect a three course meal due to your unhelpful entry this morning, Sirius." I joke, referring to his new found love of famous chefs and posh looking salmon fillets.

"Don't laugh at me!" He jumps over the back of the sofa and faces me down. "I now know how to make a salmon mousse! What can you make? Oh what is that... You can't cook?"

"Shut it." I push past him, grabbing a pot of green powder and holding it out for him. He takes and handful and speaks loud and clear as he states where we would like to go.

"Diagon Ally," Ever since Harry's little issue, we have all made extra certain that we speak extra clearly and super carefully, just in case.

Sirius disappears, engulfed by the flames, and I let the fire calm down before I grab my own handful and leave my comfy living room for the black tables and stools of the Leaky Cauldron.

* * *

"Good Morning, Tom." I say, marching through the crowd of brightly dressed Witches and Wizards, it is a long stretch from the awful, deserted times of Voldermort.

"Good Morning, Miss Granger, Sirius" He smiles a crooked smile at me and then inclines his head to acknowledge Sirius; a tall, clean shaven, fetching young man walks out of the back room and steps up to the bar. "My nephew, Alex." Tom motions to the man, and Alex gives me a very - don't judge me - sexy smile (though it's nothing compared to Draco's smirk... I can't believe I just had a positive thought about that dreadful smirk!) "Tone it down Alex, Miss Granger is a respectable young lady, doesn't need the likes of you doing... That." Tom gestures to the face of his nephew and then he turns to me and laugh together, "Plus, she's a bit scary."

"Thanks Tom." I say, rolling my eyes. "Nice to have you defending my honour in such a fabulous way," Sirius grabs onto my arm after bidding his farewells to Tom and his nephew, "We have to go, nice to meet you Alex."

Sirius and I walk together through the Leaky Cauldron and out the dusty, fading doors and into Muggle London. "What are you looking for?"

"Something for a baby and something for her too, I guess." Sirius shrugs, "I don't really know what I am looking for, I just don't understand why women have to be so stroppy all the time. I said I would help, but she hasn't let me see her; today is the first day, so hot the hell should I know what she needs? How the hell am I supposed to prove my worth when I can't support her because she won't see me?"

I look at him, wrapping a hand around his waist and letting him wrap an arm around his shoulders. "I've always fancied myself a compelling speaker, I could try and twist her arm, per say, or... I have always wanted to try my hand at being a lawyer. If it comes to it I would be happy to plead your case to a court."

Sirius laughs, pulling me closer and pressing his lips into my hairline, "See, you are not a stroppy female, why couldn't I have knocked up someone like you?"

"I am a rare, special type of female. I'm only stroppy in my head. Believe me that sometimes I want to scream bloody murder - especially at you and Ron - but I keep it inside." I smile up at him, his eyes have turned back into their dancing, happy grey, instead of the sad, cloudy grey they were two minutes ago. "Plus, she's allowed to be stroppy...she's having your baby!" I laugh and dodge out of the way before he can pinch me on my arm.

"Bit rude, Darling." he says after he has stopped behaving like a child and trying to stand on my foot, "Oh, this shop looks cool."

He has pulled me to a stop outside Monsoon."If you are looking for a teddy bear, than this is not really the place." I pull on his arm, forcing him to look at me when I realise that it is not the shop that he is admiring. "And she is not the right girl!"

"I know," Sirius hangs his head, "But I just haven't had-"

"La La La... I do not want to know anything about your sex life Sirius!" I cut him off, talking over him and probably turning a bright red at the same time.

Sirius laughs, shaking his head and wrapping an arm around my shoulder again, "Such a little prude."

"I'm not a prude, I would just rather not find out about the ins and outs of your intimate relationships," I tell him, pulling him along the road and trying to find another shop without the allure of a half dressed shop assistant. "Show a bit of restraint though, especially while you are out and about with me!"

* * *

I pull him into a boutique style shop with mannequins sporting baby bumps in the windows and start digging through the racks. "Oh, when are you due?" A shop assistant points down to my stomach; I know that I haven't been counting the calories lately, but RUDE!

"I'm shopping for a friend actually." I spit out.

Sirius walks past, holding a armful of clothes and teddies and leans down to whisper in my ear, "Oh, while you might be free from stroppiness, I see you are not exempt from bitchiness, are you?" by his next words, he isn't really whispering anymore - in fact, it's more of a loud talking, as if he doesn't mind if the whole shop knows our business. "I might have to rethink my decision of having someone like you as the mother of my children." I can tell he is joking, he's laughing with his eyes and nudging me with a hip, but as I turn to look out of the window I realise that not everyone can see the funny, sarcastic side.

From my position by the middle rack, I can see clearly out of the wide front window, and what I see makes me want to throw up my breakfast. I can see a blond man staring at me. He couldn't possibly be staring at anyone else, he's Draco Malfoy, the shop is deserted and the door is wide open. There is nothing to suggest that he didn't hear Sirius, and the look of pure hate on his face makes me feel sick. I drop the vest in my hands and stare at him, trying to plead with my eyes without actually moving.

Sirius, hearing the clatter of fallen items, turns around, wraps an arm around my shoulders, pulls me closer to him and asks, "What's wrong darling?" Malfoy turns away, kicking the pavement and marching off down the street away from us.

I push Sirius away from me, running out of the shop and trying to find him on the packed street. There is not tell tale sign of blond hair, no snarling angry man. Just several hundred strangers milling around.

"What happened?" Sirius asks as I walk back into the shop.

It has taken me a good five minutes to make my decision over what my next course of action should be. Friends come first; no matter what. I promised to be there for Sirius and (even though him and his stupid comments may have just lost me Draco Malfoy) I will not desert him, he is having a hard enough time now anyway. And after this is all over, I will go and find Draco Malfoy and set him straight - and then curse him into next year for thinking that I would ever be the kind of girl that could do that to someone.

I put it all behind me, and smile at Sirius when I walk into the shop. I'm going to enjoy myself shopping for Sirius' new child. "Oh, I like that one." I tell him, pointing at the teddy bear that he is holding in his hands. Then I realise that he has a basket at his feet.

"Ok," He says, dropping the teddy into the already overflowing basket and moving onto the next row of cuddly toys.

I laugh, crouching down and riffling through the basket, "You might as well just buy her the whole shop!" I pull out one of every single style of baby grow in the shop.

"Do you think she'd like that?"

"No!" I tell him, shaking my head and moving to replace half of the stuff back onto their respective shelves. "Too much stuff seems like you are trying too hard, like this is not you."

He nods, looking at me. "Ok." we sit together and sort out the items that we are going to buy and the items that will be left in the shop for the rest of the world to purchase.

Finally, we walk out of the shop with two bags; inside are a teddy and a few choice items of clothes. All in all, I think that we did well.

"So, do you want to tell me why Draco Malfoy ran off, ready to murder someone, when he assumed that what I said meant that you were having my child?" Sirius takes the other bag from my hand and wraps a warm arm around my shoulders, holding me and trying to convince me to speak.

I shake my head, not really wanting to talk about it, "It doesn't matter."

"I think the way you looked like someone had died, means that it really does matter." He says calmly, as we walk into the Leaky Cauldron and take a seat at a table. Alex makes his way over and takes our orders, food is soon on the table in front of me and I start to dig in. Stuffing my face to try and rid myself of the pain I feel and replace it with a sense of satisfaction at being able to eat the Leaky Cauldron out of food.

"It doesn't matter," I tell him between spoonfuls, not looking up from my plate, "Because I am going to set him straight."

Sirius taps on the table in front of me until I look up and meet his eyes, "Why would he care anyway?"

"That, Mr. Black, you will find out when I decide if I should tell you."

"You should go and sort it out," Sirius tells me, "Better not to let him stew too long, he looks like the kind of guy who might be a little rash about some things."

"Are you going to be alright going to see the _real mother of your child alone?"_

"Yeah," He tells me, throwing enough galleons to cover the food on to the table, and then leading me over to the floo.

"Thanks," I say before I mumble the name of his house, only to be thrown back out onto the floor of the Leaky Cauldron. Either he is not home, or he became a lot more picky with who he lets into his house.

I change the name of my destination to the offices and call into the floo before throwing down a handful of powder.

I step through on to the tiles.

* * *

"Seriously, you look like hell." Pansy looks at me, she is standing in the lobby, waiting in a queue for the outgoing floo fireplaces. "Not as bad as Draco though... What did you do?"

"Shut up!" I tell her, she hits me on the arm slightly and then waves me away with her hands, pointing to the lifts and silently telling me to hurry the fuck up.

I step off the lifts on the floor that will take me to Draco's office.

And then I see him. At the same time, it seems, that he sees me, because he suddenly starts to walk away from me, I run after him as fast as my heels will carry me and grab hold of his arm and pull him back round. I'm not stupid, if he wanted to go he would have been able to overpower me, but he didn't. He looks at me with heavily lidded eyes, dark rims staring down at me, his eyes almost black. "Give it up, Granger. I saw you, you are pregnant with another man's child, give it a rest and stop pretending!"

"I know you don't like me right now, but you need to listen to me." I tell him, I'm trying to keep him from running away.

He laughs, snarling at me, "Do I really, Granger?" He asks, his eyes flash with something that I haven't seen in a long time; hate pools in them, deep enough to drown me. "Because I don't think there is anything that you can tell me that would make me change my mind about you!"

I jerk back, away from him, and it feel like he has slapped me. "Draco–"

"No!" He yells, people from the offices have started milling around, listening to us duke this out in the corridor. Tears start dripping from my cheeks, "You have no right to cry about this! This is your entire fault."

"You got it all wrong!" I plead with him, tears dripping onto my cheeks, but he starts backing away from me. "I care about you, Draco."

"Me, or my money, Granger?" He asks and I recoil, dropping his hand and backing away from him. It hurts like he's just hit me. "You never cared before I started funnelling money in to your hands."

I swipe at my eyes, pushing tears off of my face. "I didn't know you before that." I say, my voice sounds fragile even to me. I straighten my back and stand tall. "And now I wish that I had never gotten to know you."

"Granger I-"

"What, Malfoy?" I ask, tight lipped and backing to the door. "You what? Because from here, all I can see is the selfish bastard that you used to be." I'm screaming now, not caring if the whole bloody office knows about my personal life, "The man who you saw was Sirius Black; he was joking, saying that I had very amiable traits and that he wished that he had someone like me. You had me! He didn't! He might get the chance now." I can't help it, I am on a roll and as angry as hell, "He's rich too, and maybe I'll just solicit myself for his money instead. God knows I couldn't do any worse than you, you arsehole!"

"Granger..." But I don't hear the rest, I am already out of the door with tears falling from my face and my eyes blurring over.

The stairs move under my feet and I slip a few times, my body lurching forwards, but I manage to hold myself up with the rail. I make it to the floo in one piece and throw the green powder into the grate, falling in and muttering "Grimauld Place," Between my tears. Before I'm whisked away, I see his face, his body, moving towards me.

* * *

He's sitting there when I cascade out of the grate. I look up and I see him.

"Sirius," I say, I walk closer to him. He sits on the floor, head in his hands, and when he looks up I wish I had never seen this. His eyes are rimmed in red, tears pooling in the corners. Seeing the strongest man I know crying makes me fall to the ground and collapse. I don't do anything. I lie there, heart pounding into the ground, legs curling into my chest and whimpering. All in all, I'm sure it makes a pathetic sight.

"Hermione?" Sirius is crouching over me in seconds, pulling me up from the ground and brushing my hair from my face. This small, tender action makes tears fall from my face to coat the ones that have already sodden my cheeks. "What happened?"

"He-He-He..." I trail off, gulping in air and trying to breathe. Sirius continues to push my hair back off of my face as I pull forceful lungfuls of air past my lips. "He doesn't want me, Sirius." I tell him. I think he has a pretty good idea that I am crying over his arse of a second cousin.

"Who? Hermione, who doesn't want you?" Sirius pleads with his eyes, imploring with me, trying to coax me into telling him so he doesn't just have to make the assumption.

"I tried to explain it all," I whisper, "And he screamed at me. Told me I just cared because of his money."

"What?"

I shake my head, and rest it atop Sirius' shoulder when I finally stop. "Sirius, you know I don't care about those things. I wouldn't care if he was poor. I-I-I think I'm falling for him Sirius." I swipe at my eyes, pushing away tears.

Sirius watches me, his eyes as wet as my own, "Are you talking about Draco Malfoy?"

"Yes."

He sighs, "Oh, Hermione."

I look around, the room is dark, fitting for my mood and Sirius' too I assume. "What about you?" I ask, "What happened?"

"She doesn't want me, Hermione." He says and I cry. I cry for him, I cry for me, I even cry for Draco Sodding Malfoy... And then I cry more for myself because I am so pathetic. I can't even drop this school girl fantasy even when I know that the guy I am infatuated with is an awful man.

"This is so stupid," I say, "I don't even know why I am crying about this!" He wraps an arm around my shoulders and holds me into his body. "I know he doesn't want to make an effort to understand, why would he? He's Draco Malfoy. He likes models and super models and super, super models – and he gets what he wants, he never has to fight for something. And what am I, someone who falls for a complete arse and who royally fucks up, and he doesn't even care enough to talk about it."

Sirius sighs, "You are worth thirty thousand models and more, Hermione." this makes me cry even more. "We really are something, aren't we?" He kisses the top of my head and I cry into his shoulder. I feel something wet on my forehead and I wipe it away subconsciously - it's only after a few seconds that I realise they are rare tears from the marauder's eyes.

* * *

**So a bit of a downer of a chapter, i promise it will start to look up. We can't make Draco Get the girl without a little work on his part. **

**Please review :)  
**


	20. Bastard! No Other Words Can Describe You

**Note, There is a lot of swearing on hermoine's part in this chapter. **

**This story is rated M, but i will warn everyone before there is content that not everyone might like :)**

* * *

Sirius and I don't have the strength to move from our positions on the floor. He tells me all about his encounter with the mother of his future child, how she shot back any attempt he used to try and make it work and how she just wasn't looking at him for anything. "She doesn't want me to be a part of this child's life, Hermione. My child. My son." He starts crying again and I hold him tighter around the waist.

Nothing is going right anymore; for either of us. "You can't end up anywhere lower than rock bottom, Sirius." I tell him, "And we have been sat on the definition of rock bottom for a long time now, we have to be on our way up soon." I tell him, and I hope to Merlin that it is true.

"My son, Hermione." He moves so that he is resting his head against the wall, "I need to be a part of my son's life; I never wanted a child, Hermione, but now that I was so close to having one it feels like some sort of sick joke. It is like someone is trying to pay me back for everything that I have ever done wrong." His head lolls back against the grey painted walls and then he smacks the back roughly against the paper. I wince and pull on his arm so that he leans away from any sort of medium with which he could do permanent damage.

"Sirius, I will help you with anything you need to make this better for you, you can get a custody agreement so you can see your son," I tell him, gripping onto his left hand and squeezing it tightly.

He shakes his head, "That is not the point Hermione, I do not want to have to schedule an appointment to see my child; I want to be there through everything, the ups _and _the downs. I want to help choose his name and to watch as he takes his first steps, to hear him say his first words and teach him how to fly a broom. What sort of relationship would I have with my child if I got to see him for an hour on weekends?"

"Have you told her this?" I ask; it is not easy to see Sirius Black – the usually nonchalant man – so full of emotions. "Have you told her this?" I repeat when he doesn't answer.

"No, not in so many words," He tells me. He runs his hands through his hair, absentmindedly forgetting that he had it cut short, he palms his eyes and looks up at me through thick lashes with red rimmed eyes.

"What are you waiting for?" I ask, motioning to the floo, "Sirius, in her eyes you have changed only changed all the _material _things. You have not told her how much you want this! Money is not the most important thing in raising a child," I punch his arm lightly, standing up and hauling him into a standing position at the same time, "You can change your clothes and your hair, buy her toys and visit her, but how is she supposed to know that you are serious about this. How is she supposed to know how much you'll work for this if you don't tell her?"

"I didn't think that there was any point, she obviously doesn't–"

I cut him off, hands on my hips and doing the best impression I can of Molly Weasley; truly terrifying if I do say so myself! "Go, NOW! And tell her what you just told me!" I use my hands to shoo, "And don't come back until this is sorted! Or I'm going and neither of you will come out alive because you are both doing my head in!"

"You are mean!" He pouts, inching closer to me and further from the fireplace.

"NOW! My sort-of-guy Draco Malfoy thinks that I am dating you because of what you said, so I am losing my patience; I didn't ruin my relationship to end up just where we were. I will rip your balls off so this can't happen again if you return without some sort of agreement." I all but throw him into the floo, willing him to leave so that I can break down on the floor and start crying again.

My heart, though I have only been infatuated with Draco Malfoy for a very small amount of time, yearns for him. It feels like there is a knife inside my heart; cold as the steel of his eyes the last time that I saw him.

Every time I shut my eyes, I can see his face; feel his hate radiating through the space between us and squashing me flat. It freezes me in place and I can't seem to breath, and then I open my eyes again and the feeling is gone until they fall closed once more.

It's not like I haven't seen this emotion from him before, because I have. Countless times. But this time it is different, this time it is sad and lonely and pain vibrates through my body. Something is wrong. Nothing has ever hurt like this before.

I stumble to the toilet and I throw up; rather ungracefully. I heave, clutching onto the bowl and feeling my knees give out underneath me. Something is wrong.

* * *

I don't manage to get up again that night, so I pass the hours on the bathroom floor too weak to move. I drift in and out of dreams.

Finally, at around two thirty in the morning I feel my eyes start to droop.

_The air around me is stale; you can taste the mustiness in the air as if no one has lived here for a long time. I wander round, black satin sheets line a bed so inviting; so soft. _

_I crawl in, my body sighs relieved at the sensation of falling into something so comforting; like an embrace. Sheets cocoon my body, caressing and folding over every angle. My eyes close with a flutter and then blackness overwhelms me... until I hear the crying. _

_I look over to the corner. A man lies there, hugging his knees to his chest and cradling his head between them. The sobs become earth shattering, heart wrenching, painful. I can't lie in wait anymore so I throw my feet to the ground and let the iciness from the stone shoot up my body and vibrate through my spine. Shivering, I take a tentative step. _

_Then another. _

_And again and again and again. Until I can feel the pain radiating off him in waves. My heart beats seamlessly with his staggered breaths. He hasn't appeared to have realise that he is no longer alone. My chest thumps with tension. Bending down, I allow one of my hands to push forwards tentatively and before I can even reach him, one of his hands shoots forwards and traps my wrist between pale, slender fingers. _

_Ice races through me, stabbing shards into my heart as I feel the pain he is experiencing, my breathing stops and my knees give until I crumple beside him leaning on my kneecaps. _

_Suddenly, his head moves. He tilts his neck back and our eyes meet. The truest silver stares back. _

I'm retching over the bowl again, pulled suddenly from my dream I can't help but relieve the pain and the hate burning inside the boys eyes. Eyes so familiar in a face belonging to a stranger.

* * *

Monday morning I force my aching bones to get up. Adamantly refusing to give in and stay at home because of the obvious consequences – that Draco thinks I am avoiding him – I move slowly to the bathroom.

The vomiting stopped sometime yesterday, but the weakness in my limbs hasn't yet faded. I find a dress to wear and pull that over my head. For how retched I feel, the dress looks better than I had hoped.

The dark circles under my eyes, however, scream of sleepless nights and I fear that it is going to make me look bloody pathetic, but there is only so much concealing makeup can achieve (and unfortunately, my face is beyond the help of even the strongest magical products.) So I try and make myself look better by adding a bright lipstick. But nothing seems to be going right because the only thought that I have once I see the bright shade on myself is 'Slapper' and I have to quickly take it off.

Instead, I avoid heavy makeup and just stick to the foundation. So what if he sees me. He hates me now so I don't have to try and make myself look good. _That boat sailed already, Granger!_ I remind myself and I pick up a bag and make my way to the floo. No doubt he has already realised that he was stupid to even consider kissing someone like me. He has probably receive a thousand offers – much better than anything that I could give - already.

* * *

I see him when I step out of the floo and he moves out of the adjacent one. I never really envisioned Draco Malfoy travelling to work by floo, I always assumed he was the fancy sports car type – or the fancy boom stick type, maybe even a horse drawn carriage (At least that is what he turned up in when he made a brief, yet bloody fantastic, entrance in one of my dreams), but not really the floo. Anyway, the point is that it is just a little odd to watch him dusting himself off and stepping out of the grate and onto the marble floor.

He doesn't see me. Until, that is, the next person falls out of the floo on top of me and causes rather a large commotion because I was still standing in the grate. "Mind the bloody way!"

"Sorry–" I stammer, flapping my arms and trying to maintain any balance that I can.

He grunts, "Move out of the way child!" After running a hand through his thinning hair and cursing rather rudely he then says, "Get out of the way, Girl!" and pushes his way around me. But I can't move, because Draco Sodding Malfoy is watching me. And he has identical looking bags to my own crawling under his eyes, and the same clammy look about him.

I hold my head high, reminding myself that I have done nothing wrong, and I march past. Moving to the lift and climbing into it. Draco Malfoy purposefully stands his ground in the lobby, refusing to move and get into the same lift as my own. The door clangs shut and I find that I am thankful for the lack of company.

* * *

The office is quite. Theodor Nott sits a few metres off to my left, head down and pen scratching in an annoying way that makes me want to curse him through the glass even though it would probably shatter and cause a right mess.

He hasn't looked at me; save for walking into my office unannounced to place a bundle of files on my desk. Not so much as a hello. I'm not surprised really.

I'm sure that is I see Blaise Zabini, Marcus Flint or Adrian Pucey somewhere in the Slytherin crowded halls of Malfoy's company building, they would ignore me too. Considering that they are Malfoy's best mates, I wouldn't expect anything less. But the point that all of this is a huge mistake and Malfoy is not willing to listen or trust me has me fuming.

I pick up a wad of files. The snake on my desk hisses as I run my finger over it accidently and I find myself sticking my tongue out at it – a picture on my desk; I just tried to annoy a picture by sticking my tongue out at it. Please someone tell me that I am not going mad, for I fear that Draco Malfoy has shoved me to the edge of insanity.

For the moment, I decide to forget about the possibility that I am going mad, and instead I stride determinedly towards the lifts. Fuck Draco Malfoy and his judgemental attitude. Fuck the fact that Draco Mafoy obviously does not want to see me right now.

Fuck everything, because I am pissed off and ready to lay my opinion on to him – quite violently it appears if the tension crawling through my body doesn't leave before I reach the door of his office.

There is no one sitting at the reception desk on my way into Draco Malfoy's office, so I proceed to twist the handle on his door and push it open.

And by god to I wish I hadn't.

He sits there, in his desk chair like nothing is going on the receptionist standing off to one side. I stand cowering in the doorway, watching as he looks at me and pulls his leggy blond receptionist in front of him. She sits on the edge, opening her legs as he runs his hands up her thighs. He turns to me smirking and pulls her hips closer to him and bending his head down he...

I don't watch any more. I can't. My chest hurts; my eyes water and I can't feel anything.

I shut the door and sink to the ground.

Fuck Draco Malfoy. Stupid bastard.

I want to kick and scream and throw everything I can because it is not fair. Not fucking fair at all. Judgemental hypocrite.

* * *

In hindsight this might seem a bit rash. But I have made up my mind before I even regain the strength to stand. I fly up to my office block and shove file upon file onto the floor. I throw pages and pages around, muttering a spell under my breath so they continue to fly around.

Pansy runs into the room, screaming, trying to catch pages as the hurricane sweeps around me. I throw my arms down to my side, all motion in the room stops. Pages flutter to rest and I smile. Relief flooding my body now that all energy has been expelled. "Tell him that he can fuck anyone he wants for all I care." I tell her, my things jump into a bag with a wave of my wand and I march to the door. "Tell him that he can fuck his job too."

"Hermione wait, you don't understand, he doesn't know what he is doing."

"He knows bloody well what he is doing, and if he can treat me so nicely one minute and then sleep with another girl the next, I don't even want to be in the same building as him."

"He's going through bad things right now, you can see it in his eyes, everyone can. Have a heart Hermione."

"What? So he can trash it again?" I smirk, walking to the door, "No thanks."

"He needs you; you don't know what this is going to do to him." I don't really understand what she means and right at this moment I don't really care.

"He made his bed, now he can lie in it."

* * *

**Sorry for the short chapter, but i wrote loads last time and i will write more, but it has been a hectic week and i wanted to update at least a small amount this week. I will write again soon, i promise. Please leave a review as well, because it will motivate me to keep going :)Her decision to quit might seem a bit rash, but it is a needed element to the story, and i would have just had to drag it out for a few more chapter and no one wants to read ten thousand words on how depressing her work life has become!  
**

**So yeah, this means that the next ten thousand words can be uber important and much more interesting.  
**

**Please review :)  
**


	21. GET OUT!

**Hello everyone :) December seventh already. I hope everyone has had an amaizing day :) it snowed a bit today where i live, i love the snow and it has left me in an amazing mood so i decided to write a very sad chapter - twisted logic i know but i have to follow on with the rest of the story. **

**plus - and if you really dont care, you can skip onto the chapter - the chocolates on my advent calendar get bigger with every passing week and today it was a good sized piece of chocolate (i know i'm seventeen and i should grow up, but it's sooo hard when you have a calandar with chocolates behind every day :)**

**And lastly, just rewatched the Italian Job - i have come to the conclusion that any man looks sexy in a car chase where he has to dodge moving vehicles with one hand on the steering wheel and use the other to spin the car round. **

**Anyway, on with the story :)**

* * *

"Hermione," Ginny flies out of the floo, running towards me and then dropping to her knees, "I have great new– what happened to you?" she says upon realising that my eyes are red and puffy, that I'm sitting at home in the middle of the day stuffing a –very large and very satisfying – bar of chocolate into my mouth and that sobs are flying from my mouth almost as fast as she shot out of the floo.

I have to admit, though, that the chocolate does bring me a little bit of happiness. Luckily it is dark chocolate – the only kind that I had in the cupboard – or else I would be ballooning right about now. "I'm not in the mood to talk about the list of things wrong with my life right now, Ginny." I tell her, taking the tissue held out in her hand and using it to scrub away at some of the mascara trails twisting down my cheeks (I wasn't really expecting any visitors.) "Tell me your big news."

"I have a date," She tells me, and she is just so happy that I have to find the last little bit of strength inside me to smile and congratulate her, instead of braking down again. She continues after my smile of encouragement. "I would tell someone else, but they would all be judgemental... I mean, even after Hogwarts is over and done with, they are all so adamant that people can't change but I know that they can."

"Stop babbling and tell me what you are on about!" I say, holding my breath and waiting for her to reveal the mystery man. "I'm not really able to judge anyway, I fell for the Prince of the Snakes so–"

Yep! I just shot myself in the foot here. I forgot that I hadn't told her, and now her face is shocked and a little annoyed. "I wanted to be the first to break the mould, and here you are beating me to it!"

"Oh shut up!" I tell her, smiling slightly at her charmingly childish expression. I know that she is joking and I manage to crack a proper smile when she sticks out her tongue. "So who is it?"

"Blaise Zabini?" She says, though she doesn't sound like she is sure and it turns out more like a question than an actual statement.

"Zabini... huh?" I consider it. I can really see it now that she mentions it.

She smiles, more like beams , "He's a great guy... so, Draco Malfoy, huh?"

"Not anymore." I tell her, dreading the questions and the answers that I am going to have to give, and then I realise that I really do want to talk about it. I want to swear and scream and yell until I can't speak anymore. "You missed that beautiful day," I mutter sarcastically. Suddenly, I push away the tracks of tears on my face and dislodge the chocolate wrappers (ok, the entire set of wrappers from a box of After Eights; yum!) and throw myself into a standing position.

"What happened?" Ginny falls into my space on the sofa, grabbing the discarded box and sifting through until she realises that she is out of luck. I ate my chocolate box dry.

I stand on the coffee table and look at her. She watches me and her reaction when I open my mouth and start screaming is incredible. She slaps her hand over here ears, mouth open, and watches me with wide eyes until I shut off the noise. The silence is not long lived though because I throw my arms out and begin again.

I keep going until all the tension in my chest has dissipated. "Fuck you Draco Malfoy." I say in a normal tone when I can breathe again.

Ginny removes her hands from her ears, "What they fuck did he do to you?!"

"He, let me tell you Ginny Weasly, is a fucking moron and a bloody hypocrite; all of the snakes are. You can't trust a single fucking one of them. And do you know why? Because they all jump to conclusion!" I tell her, retaining my place on the table and speaking like I am preaching to thousands. "Why would they believe that someone is not cheating on them when they think that you have? Why would they not listen? Because they think so much of themselves that everyone else must all be lying because they know the truth!"

"What are you on about?"

I sigh, jumping off the table and walking to the kitchen to grab a bottle of wine and two glasses – well, now that the chocolate is gone, we need sustenance of some kind. "He saw me with Sirius, talking about the future and what kind of person we wanted to spend our lives with. Sirius said that he wanted someone like me – not phrased exactly like that, it is true, but you get the idea. Anyway, Malfoy overheard and assumed that I was with Sirius."

Ginny laughs, "You and Sirius, Sirius Black? Is he mental?" At least I can be sure that Ginny will always cheer me up.

I laugh; it would have all be so much easier if Draco Malfoy hadn't been there. "Probably." I sigh, flopping back onto the couch and kicking my feet up to rest of Ginny's lap, "Want to know what is even worse?" I ask her and after she motions for me to continue, I tell her more of the story, "And then, four days ago at work, I got so pissed off," She interrupts with an 'I would be' but I ignore her, "So I decided to confront him, and he had his stupid slut of an assistant in his office."

"I bet nothing was going to happen," Ginny pats my calf and puts on her 'what she calls comforting' voice. I can tell you now, not comforting in the slightest. But I guess it is better than sarcasm, so I'm not going to complain. That and the fact that I'm pretty sure that I am worse on the whole being a comforting person that she is.

I scoff, "He looked at me and watched me while he basically buried his face between her thighs." It has been four days, and I am still a little bet sore at that fact. Fuck him!

"That means nothing; he was obviously doing it to make you mad. I bet he pushed her away as soon as you left if he watched your reaction. He just wanted to get a rise out of you."

Let me tell you, that I have never felt inclined to give someone a blow job because I was mad at another man; NEVER! And I have been mad at a lot of men! "Fuck that logic," I tell her, "That is the stupidest reason in the world. So what if he was mad at me! I'm mad now and you don't see me running off to go and shag one of the guys in the office just to piss him off." I sigh, "Well, good morals aside, I couldn't shag one of them if I wanted to anyway, I quit."

She looks at me, sighing and running a hand through her impeccable red hair. "Wasn't that a bit hasty?"

"Shut up, I'll just find another job." I say to her rolling my eyes and digging my heel into her knee, "And I really hope to God that she is fucking awful shag." I tell her which is the end of that conversation.

* * *

Sirius falls through the floo at some point in the afternoon. I'm a little bit drunk, so I'm not really sure if it is actually Sirius ... or if I am actually alive, but I find myself falling and he catches me anyway. "Sirius, I think I am going to be sick." Laughing uncontrollably as I try to stand, I end up falling over him and dropping into the middle of the living room floor, where I continue to cackle to myself.

Sirius – hopefully – moves closer, patting my back and trying to get me to turn over so that he can either give me a glass of water, unlikely, or shove a nasty, foul smelling green liquid down my throat (i.e a sobriety potion) which is the more feasible option as I can see it in his hand. "Come on, hun." He tells me, pulling on my hand and helping me to stand.

"Go away." I tell him, holding onto his hand because I need the help to stand. This is the first time that I have seen him since I sent him away to fight for his child. Either that means that it went very, very well, or very, very badly.

Sirius leans down so his head is close to mine, "She said OK, Hermione. Are you even sober enough to remember what this is about?"

"Sirius that is great!" I say, finally remembering what was going on and through the foggy, alcohol induced faze, I launch myself at him.

"Get away from her!" there is a snarl from behind me. Who could that be? I look up to find Sirius glaring over my shoulder.

"Who is it, Sirius?" I ask, too scared by the over consumption of alcohol and the terrifying voice to turn around and see for myself, because I have a good idea who it might be.

Sirius laughs, holding his hands on my waist and smirking at the man behind us, "The Malfoy brat popped in to say hello." He finally holds his hands up and steps away from me, leaving me alone to try and turn around by myself. Unfortunately, it is not quite the smooth trip that I envisioned and I find that I almost fall over on my way around.

I know that I look like hell, god, I feel like hell. "What did you do to her?" Malfoy asks, moving closer and then, thinking better of it, holds his hands up in surrender as I ball my fists and get ready to lash out.

"I think you did that mate," Sirius says from behind me, the tone is anything but unfriendly.

"What now? I can't even hug my friend without you accusing me of something!" I try to move, but I get a rush of dizziness so I have to hold still instead, "Fuck off Malfoy. Go back to the office and fuck your slut." I instantly regret calling his assistant a slut, but I think I get the point I was trying to express across and the look on his face makes a little scarred part inside of me heal. "Or better yet, hire a prostitute, same result right, something quick and easy because you don't care enough to fight for anything."

"Shut up," He says, and I find myself peeling into bouts of laughter.

I take a carefully calculated step forwards, "Don't you dare come into my house and tell me to shut up! Don't you fucking dare, Malfoy!" I step forwards again and his features lock into a hard mask. I notice that his eyes are ringed in black, his cheeks gaunt; like he has not been sleeping or eating.

He tries to take my hand in his and I slap him. The resounding SLAP echoes around the room. "Don't touch me, don't even look at me, just get the fuck out."

"You don't understand anything about this, Hermione." He tells me, "Please hear me out."

"What like you did? You heard me out, didn't you?... Oh wait; you fucked the office whore instead. A great way to start a doomed relationship anyway, Malfoy." I tell him, trying to smile an easy, effortless smile that results in more of a grimace. "Why try when we know that it isn't going to work? Thanks for saving me from a lot more pain." My drunk brain can't really control my mouth.

I walk past him, "Sirius, would you see out my uninvited visitor?"

Sirius must have left too, though I am not really sure because I think I fall asleep as soon as my head touches the pillow.

* * *

_I look over to the corner. The man lies there, hugging his knees to his chest and cradling his head between them again. The sobs so familiar yet so distant, cut deep inside me. I can't stand my ground anymore, so I make my way across the hardwood floor for the fourth night in a row. I have been coming here every night, I have seen his face every night, and every morning I wake with the sound of his tears in my head and the pain oh his crying inside my heart. _

_I take several tentative steps forwards. The dream unfolds exactly like the others. _

_I reach him and I can feel the pain radiating off him in waves. And my heart beats seamlessly with his staggered breaths, breaths that I have become so accustomed to hearing. Once again he hasn't appeared to have realised that he is no longer alone. _

_Heart beating in my throat, I bend down and hover over him. I allow one of my hands to push forwards tentatively and before I can even reach him, one of his hands shoots forwards and traps my wrist between pale, slender fingers like it has so many times before in my dreams. This night, though, I don't wake the moment our eyes meet. This time he speaks. _

_"Help me, Granger."_

* * *

**Thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter :) It made me so happy; it was the most reviews that i have gotten for a chapter yet :) so thank you again and i hope you enjoyed this chapter :)**


	22. Can You Still Trust Me?

**Hey, i decided to post another update because of all the amazing reviews. I promise that every thing will be resolved in the end hopefully you can stick with me until then :)**

**Sorry it is not as long as usual, but i decided to update quickly so i had to write this this morning, i really hope that you guys like it. **

**Please review :)**

* * *

When I wake, I am assaulted by a very aggressive headache. Seriously, I am going to murder Ginny Weasley. Who plies an emotionally drained person with alcohol? Well, Ginny Weasley does, apparently!

And then I am attacked by another memory; a memory of Draco Malfoy and a lot of bitchy words on my part. Fuck. And I suddenly remember how awful he looked; how tired and gaunt and absent he looked. It was like seeing a shell of the person that he used to be, and I feel dreadful. And it is not just the hangover!

"AHH!" I walk into the living room – bearing in mind that I literally just rolled out of bed and I am literally bearing it _all. _Ok, not really all, I do not generally walk around naked, but I am standing here in a bra and pyjama shorts and Draco Sodding Malfoy is watching me. "What are you doing here? And Turn AROUND!" He does.

"Hermione,"

"No, no nice words. Please. It is too early in the morning for us to pretend to be something that we are not. You never call me Hermione, don't start now." I tell him, annoyed at his presence in my living room. I walk around him, pulling a jumper off the back of the sofa and pulling it on, "Do you need something from me, Malfoy?"

He follows me into the kitchen, for someone who spent the night on the couch he definitely looks a right side better than I do; well his hair does, to say the least – something that irks me to no end. "I need to speak to you."

"I believe that there is nothing left to say between us. You said everything that you needed too when I was standing at the door of your office." I gesture to the floo with one hand, dismissing him in a way that he doesn't seem to understand because he does not move at all.

Shaking his head, he moves to the kettle and pours strong black coffee for the both of us, "I really need to speak to you about something,"

"I can't, Malfoy." I sigh, holding onto the mug in my hands and relishing in the warmth that it provides. "You made it clear that you don't trust me, care about me or care enough to fight for something, so thank you Draco Malfoy for showing me that everything that I ever felt for you was a big mistake."

"Please don't say that,"

"Why not?" I ask him, "What are we really doing here Malfoy anyway? We never really got on and this won't lead to anything good."

"So you are just going to give up?" He yells at me, "That is not the Hermione Granger that I know!"

I shake my head slightly, "You gave up, Malfoy, when you slept with another girl out of anger. How can I ever trust you again?"

"I didn't actually sleep with her; I just wanted you to think that I had. I pushed her away as soon as you left. I just wanted you to want me as badly as I wanted you; I wanted you to hurt as much as I hurt when I saw you with another man, Hermione. Because I can't get you out of my head, I can't stop thinking about you, when you are near me I feel so at ease and then you look at me and everything gets better no matter what is happening. I find my heart pounding as soon as you walk into the room and I needed to see you so badly last night that I came here." He sighs, moving closer to me and crowding me into the kitchen counter. There is nowhere to run now. "And then I saw you with Sirius Black and I got so mad that I wanted to hurt him. Hermione I wanted to _hurt _him, with my bare hands."

Tears pool in his eyes and they turn glassy and slick with moisture. "And then you told me to go, and I didn't know what to do. I physically couldn't leave you." He rests his head on my shoulder and I feel him breathing in deeply, sucking air into his lungs greedily. "Hermione, I don't know what's happening to me!"

"Shh," I tell him, wrapping my arms around his shoulders and holding his body to mine.

Six days ago we had our first kiss, in the lake of Malfoy Manor. He joked and laughed and we ran together through the forest, he was strong enough to pick me up and settle me down on the grass gently. And I remember running my arms across him, felling the dip and slide of the ridges on his stomach, feeling the tensing of the muscles on his shoulders as I ran my fingers lightly over them.

But, now, I can feel his bones through his t-shirt as I run my hands over him. "Draco, what has happened to you?"

"Granger, please help me." Holding him to my body, I let him hug me until he is ready to pull away, and even then he seems to need some form of constant contact. He touches my neck, my hair, my waist, my hand as I flutter about the kitchen and whip him up the biggest breakfast that I can think of.

Eggs, bacon, sausages, hash browns and even a selection of pancakes and muffins (shop bought). I tell him to sit, but he waits until I have finished and continues to hold my hand as he eats his way through enough food to fill an army.

I grab a chocolate chip muffin and examine him as he sits in my kitchen at the table. "Wow, you really know how to cook, Granger." He says, still holding my hand locked between his fingers.

I laugh, "I think you are only saying that because you were starving, I think my eggs were raw!" I joke and he flicks his eyes to me. "I'm joking!" I say before he can say anything. "Raw eggs or not, anyway, this is about the only food I can cook, anything more complicated and I'll burn the house down."

"Well I, on the other hand, am an excellent chef." He jokes, he looks much better now, not as pale or close to death as when I woke up this morning.

Suddenly, I stop laughing and I rip my hand out of his, "What are we doing, Malfoy?"

"What?" He asks, his eyes losing their easy quality and turning into the dark steel grey that I have seen so many times before.

I shake my head and stand from my chair, picking up dishes and walking into the kitchen to put them into the sink. I'm about to turn around and talk to him when the floo bursts into flames.

"Hermione!" Ginny walks into the room dusting down her robes and not taking any notice of the occupants of the room. "You'll never guess what I did last night! Blaise and I–" she finally looks up and takes stock of the ambiance and the two people. "Oh, I see you have company, I will return another time." She flashes a legendary glare at Malfoy and struts back to the floo.

"That is the girl that Blaise has been so happy about? I thought she was going to be a model or–"

"What is wrong with Ginny?" I ask, somewhat coldly.

He smiles, walking closer and trapping me once more between the kitchen counter and his body, "Nothing; actually thinking about what I can remember of her, I think that she will be good for him."

"I know, right?!" I say, smiling and then realising that we are still way to close for the conversation that I need to happen. I can't think when he's this close, I can't even breathe.

"No Draco."I say, pushing him away when his lips start to inch closer to my neck. "What's going to happen when you see me messing about with Harry, or Ron," He scowls at the mention of this Weasley, "Or Sirius?" I ask him, "I do have male friends, and if every time I hug them you assume I am sleeping with someone and take it out on me by pretending you are going to fuck someone – you do realise now how stupid that plan was, right? – then I don't think that I can handle it."

I turn away from him, still locked in the protective casing of his arms.

The next time that he speaks, his breath lingers on my neck and his lips brush my ear with every word out of his mouth, "Yes I know how stupid that plan was, Hermione," Hearing his voice whisper my name sends giant shivers dancing down my spine. "You don't understand how sick I feel when I think over my own behaviour, but you have to understand that there was something inside me; something that just screamed you couldn't want me because of who I was and who I am."

"The past is gone now, Malfoy, I don't think of you in that way anymore." I tell him, turning back around and looking into his eyes, "I trusted you." I place my two hands on his chest and scrunch the material between my fingers.

He keeps his face neutral, "And now?" he asks.

His mask of emotionless looks about ready to crack. "I don't know."

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**Again, thank you for all of the amazing reviews. **


	23. Of Daytime Sleepovers and RIsky Thoughts

**hey guys, i'm sorry for the long wait. hopefully this chapters does justice for the amount of time that you had to wait. please review at the end xx **

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"Hermione... please." His grey eyes turn pale and I have to fight hard with myself not to jump on him and tell him that everything is going to be ok. Just one look from him and I am ready to throw all of my morals out of the window.

If anyone by Draco Malfoy had done this to me, I would have hexed them into next year and screamed until they couldn't hear anymore. But Draco Malfoy has me listening and wanting to forgive him with a single look.

I sigh, "Ok," I tell him, moving to the sofa and sitting down gently. He still holds my hand in one of his and when we are both sitting down he lifts my hand up to his lips and presses a kiss to my palm.

Draco smiles softly at me, holding my hands between us and sighs. "I'm so tired, Hermione." He tells me.

"I can see," I lift my hand and run my finger over one of the dark shadows beneath his eyes. "Why aren't you sleeping?"

He shakes his head, "So tired." He leans his cheek into my palm and I run my fingertips over his skin.

"Come on," I tell him, "You can tell me later." I smile, pulling on his hand and leading him to my bedroom, "You should sleep." He sits on the edge of my bed and watches me with blank eyes.

Shaking his head he says, "I need to tell you everything now." He stands and I try to push him back down but he is so strong that he doesn't even look like he feels anything.

"Sleep, we'll talk when you wake up." I smile, reaching down and undoing one of his shoes. I help take them off and then reach up to undo his belt and slide his jeans off his hips; my face sort of level with... well you know where! I look up at him and realise the mistake that I have made.

His eyes, so blank with exhaustion a minute ago, stare down at me – dark with lust. I back away, as he steps out of the material. "You should sleep." I repeat, backing until I reach the wall because he mimics ever one of my steps of retreat with a step of his own until we are pressed together against the wall.

He leans down to kiss my neck, breathing in deeply and groaning in the back of his throat. "Amazing." He seems to be speaking to himself – but as I assume the complement is directed at me, my head swells a little. I mean, any girl's head would if Draco Malfoy –_DRACO MALFOY, I know! _– called them amazing! I shake my head.

"Draco!" I moan lightly – unknowingly – as his hands reach under my shirt before ripping it off – not 'ripping it over my head'! He actually ripped it _off of me. _It sits – buttons clattering to the ground around it – on my bedroom floor. I stare at it in shock. Draco doesn't seem to realise though as he nuzzles his head into my chest. "Draco, no." I tell him, pushing on his shoulders with everything that I have, but it doesn't seem to have any effect – seriously, I think he just stole all of the Hulks muscle mass! "Draco, stop." I push on his shoulders again, trying to force him away from me – this is not happening, not like this! – Finally, he looks up at me, his hands cupping my hips and holding on strongly, his eyes as dark as the night.

He blinks, his eyes quickly turning back to their normal colour, all traces of lust gone as he looks into my eyes. He seems to collapse, his head resting on my chest as I run my hands over his hair. He still holds me against the wall and I realise that I am floating in the air, my legs around his waist. _When did that happen?! _

I don't think that either of us are breathing as we hold still, both of us scared to move. "Hermione?" His voice is soft, timid and shy and I continue to run my hands through his hair even though I am scared. I can hardly breathe. "I'm so sorry, Hermione." He mummers, caressing my hips lightly with his hand and trying to sooth me gently. "I'm so sorry."

"Draco, please put me down." I say calmly, and he quickly releases me, "Come on," Holding his hand I lead him to the bed and push him into it. Cocooning himself in the sheets and breathing deeply, he seems to relax. "Sleep, Draco."

I think he has already fallen asleep so I walk to the door; his soft words make me jump. "Stay with me," he says, his eyes flittering open before slipping shut once more, "Please."

I nod though he can't see. I slip between the sheets with him, his eyes are still shut but he seems to visibly relax his tense posture. "Goodnight," I say, even though it is very much the middle of the day.

He sighs, not responding, but he turns himself over and cuddles into my side. His head lies on my chest and I run my fingers through his hair, lying there awkwardly awake until he opens his eyes many hours later.

In the silence of the room, I can hear his quiet breathing; a soft, seamless presence that lingers in the air and comforts me more than anything has ever before, but I shake that feleing away and hold firmly onto my resentment.

I shouldn't make things easy for him just because he is Draco Malfoy. I swallow the lump in my throat, holding back tears as I watch his hands fist into my t-shirt and his head huddle closer into my chest.

Allowing my fingers to trace the smooth planes of his face, I watch his features twist from peacefulness to stress and then back to peacefulness as different dreams and thoughts flicker through his mind – finally he settles on flushed. All the while I trace his lips, his masculine eyebrows, the corners on his eyes.

The feeling of his smooth skin against mine makes my skin heat up with every soft stroke. My cheeks blush lightly as I relieve the feeling of his hands ripping my shirt off, his lips on my neck, on my lips.

Suddenly, he moves. His hand reaches to caress the underside of my breast, his fingers slip under the material of my cotton sleep wear bra – the only thing I have left on after the disastrous end that met with my top – his hand lightly cups my breast, his palm dragging slightly over my raised nipple as electric pulses shoot southwards.

His hips jerk into mine, and I moan lightly, before feeling ashamed with myself.

_He's asleep, god damn it._ I pull myself away until his hands drop from my body, his hips move away from mine, and everything is seemingly platonic once more. His head rests against my neck; breathing steady and sending cooling puffs of air over my heated skin.

_How can I be so aroused from that one movement when I was fine two minutes ago? _I reprimand myself, _get a grip, Hermione. _

By the time he wakes, it is nearing nightfall and I have worked myself into a mass of nerves and feelings that have taken on a sexual nature. I try not to let it show as I pry myself from his grip before telling him that I am going to get up to make us something to eat, trying to hide the tell tale rouge of my cheeks and the cheapness of my lips that has evolved from my frazzled nerves chewing all over them.

It's not that I have never thought of anyone in a sexual way, because I have. There was the time with Viktor, and then a few years of obsessed hormones that raged over Ronald Weasley and then I had a thing for Harry for a few weeks during the war until I realise that it had evolved from my lack of encounters with other males. But the force with which my feelings for Draco Malfoy have hit me is what is so new about the situation.

No other man has ever made me react to him like this.

In conclusion to my little story, I am not a person who decides to distance myself from sexual encounters. But, even so, I have to say that I am wholly inexperienced when it comes to feeling these sorts of hot flushes.

Obviously, Draco moaning in an overtly sexual way while he was sleeping – all the while pushing himself further into my breasts and griping onto my hip tightly – didn't help with the internal battle over whether or not I was decidedly crazy to be fantasising about Draco Malfoy doing a lot more than stripping me of my t-shirt.

Over the scrambled eggs, I conclude that I am completely sane to be visualising dropping my virginity knickers for the man lying in my bed, when that man is Draco and he makes me feel things that I have never felt before.

"How are you now?" I ask as I find myself staring into his crystal grey eyes from my position in the kitchen. He stands, his head resting against my bedroom door, his ripped chest glares at me from across the room; the planes of his muscles catching the light easily.

"How are you?" He shoots back at me, a cocky smirk etched onto his lips that makes me feel like he knows exactly what I am thinking, exactly how I am thinking about what I would find under his low riding boxer shorts. I snap myself out of it.

I nod quietly and, when I finally pull my eyes away from the area of his smooth hips, I say, "Fine, thanks." And return easily to making the eggs.

"I'm sorry again about last night." He says, walking closer and then grabbing onto my hand and playing lightly with my fingertips, before looking into my eyes with a buttery look that begs forgiveness. "I hope you know that I would never push you to do something that you didn't want to do,"

I cut him off, and we both end up talking together, "I know,"

He continues as if I am not speaking, "But recently..." trailing off, he pauses to sigh, running his hand over his face and tightening his grip on my hand, "I've been going through some things, things that I want so much to tell you about, but I don't know how you'll take them, and I can't imagine you turning on me, not now."

The eggs lay forgotten in the pan on the top of the counter, just about to be tipped into plates, as he shoves my hips against the cupboard. "You can trust me," I whisper against his lips, holding onto his shoulders and brushing my mouth tentatively against his own.

"Can you trust me?" He asks, and I find myself nodding, holding onto the short tendrils at the back of his head and jumping up to wrap my legs around his waist. "Is that a yes?" he pulls his lips away from my face and I moan – very audibly – and try to drag him closer. "Answer me, Hermione."

I nod again, "Yes." I whisper, "I trust you."

He spins us round, before allowing me to sit on the counter top, his hips push against mine and I find myself behaving wantonly as I throw caution to the wind and grind against him. "Your tits feel amazing." I look down to find his hands stroking my thighs, and he looks up at me with a telltale smirk.

"You were..." I have to breathe deeply as he moves against my core to stop myself from moaning as he licks over a very powerful spot on y neck; and, all of a sudden, I have an overwhelming hate for the clothes that are separating us. "Awake." My cheeks tinge in embarrassment and I allow my head to drop forwards against his shoulder.

He lifts me up, moving to the sofa before pulling me down to rest on his lap and he rolls my hips in time with his as he pulls of the last thing hiding my breast from him.

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**I hope you guys enjoyed, please leave a review; i hope that when it comes to write scenes that are a little more frisky, i dont completly fail :) **


	24. Doritos Vs Spa Retreat

My top is flicked from his fingers and lands somewhere on the other side of the couch, but all I can think of is the pulsing need between my thighs and how fantastic Draco Malfoy feels moving against me.

I never considered that I would be in this position with him. In all honesty, before a few months ago I had never even considered hi as anything other than an enemy... But here we are; Draco Malfoy and Hermione Granger moving steamily together on my living room couch.

When I imagined losing my virginity - and I did so a lot - I never expected it to be on a couch, with Draco Malfoy after only recently becoming reacquainted with him. But, now that I am getting all up close and personal with him, I couldn't imagine anything better.

"Stop, Granger." He stills my hips with his hands, I push against them to try and get us moving together again and, for a few seconds, he lets me continue as he throws his head back and moans contentedly, but then he stops me again. Leaning his head forwards onto my exposed chest, his breath causes little puffs of cold air to shiver along my exposed chest, making my already taught nipples harden painfully.

My hands fist in his hair, pulling his mouth up and closer to my heated flesh but he pushes me away. "Granger, stop."

Shaking my head, I try to clear my muddled thoughts and the only reason I can think of, that would result in a man pushing away sex, is that he does not like me in that way.

"Right... I'm sorry I pushed myself on you." I tell him, standing up and moving around to the back of the couch and pulling my crumpled top back over my head. "I think that you should leave." I manage to strangle out in a hoarse whisper.

"Hermione, what are you talking about?"

I shake my head and allow my arms to hug protectively around my middle as we stare at each other. "Well, it's obvious, isn't it!" I say, "You don't find me attractive,"

"Oh, shut up, Hermione." I recoil, his words slamming into me full force, "Will you stop being so obtuse for a minute,"

Shaking, the only effective way that I have found to contain my anger, I probably look demented. "I am not obtuse!" I snarl back, walking forwards to jab a finger into his obnoxiously toned chest.

Shaking his head, he laughs... He laughs... _At me_! Taking my hand in his own, much larger one, he moves it to touch the area between his legs, "I think it is pretty damn obvious that I what you so badly," he smiles, and then removes my hand as I start to increase my hold.

"I'm sorry, I just get really insecure around you, and I have no idea why," he smirks and I jump in before he can speak, "Do not take this as an opportunity to spout rubbish about how intimidatingly sexy you are."

He nods, reaching forwards to tug at a loose curl by my ear and then takes a step closer, "The reason that I didn't let you carry on, is because I don't want you to think that this is a mistake." He smiles, "And I really do not want you to ever regret this."

I don't know what to say, "I won't ever regret being with you that way."

He laughs, shaking his head and rapping an arm around my waist so we are pressed flush together, "I think it is undeniably sexy that you want me so badly -"

Flushing, my mouth opens and closes without the presence of words for a few seconds and then I finally manage to squeeze out a few words, "Just because of that, I don't think that you should ever expect to sleep with me." I joke, nudging his side and smiling coyly.

He shakes his head, smiling at me and leaning down to brush his lips lightly along my own mouth. "I like you a lot, Hermione Granger, and I don't want to ruin this."

"I like you a lot too." I manage to say before his lips crowd mine again. But this time the kiss is different; tender and perfect, but still fused with a passion and longing that leaves me weak in the knees.

* * *

"I have to work tomorrow," He tells me, after an enjoyable dinner. Ever since our little conversation and the pleasure inducing kiss, he has kept me at a good arms length away making sure that I am a safe distance so that if I decide to pounce on him he has enough forewarning to step away. "So I should probably go."

"Ok, I should probably get a good night's rest too," It is the first time in the last two days that I even remembered that I am unemployed – and that I almost slept with my former boss; when did the lines get so blurred.

Smiling, I walk him to the floo, "You never really gave me a formal resignation," Shaking his head, he holds onto my shoulders and smirks, "Instead I had Pansy running into my office screaming her head off. So, if you still want your job than you are welcome to it."

"I don't think that is a good idea," I tell him, shaking my head and turning from him. "But I have all the notes for the project here if you want them." I find the black folder along my other files and hand it to him.

"And if you need anything you can always call round and ask." I tell him, leaning up on my tiptoes to press a soft kiss on his lips before I push him away and throw a handful of floo powder into the hearth.

Standing among the vibrant, green flames he looks positively ethereal – not that I mention it... his head is already having a hard time getting into the fireplace, and I see no need to induce more arrogance. "Lunch tomorrow?" He asks and I find myself nodding while biting my lip; suddenly I realise that that is very 'school girl crush' type behaviour so I stop myself and wave slightly instead as he disappears into the intricate, smoky corridors of the floo network.

* * *

The night passes quickly, locked in a sexual dream that had me blushing to the roots of my hair when I wake with a tingling between my thighs that makes me squirm uneasily.

His grey eyes flash behind my eye lids, shining darkly with lust.

"God, I need to find something else to occupy my thoughts!" I mutter to myself, getting up and moving over to the kitchen to fix myself something to eat.

Lunch with Malfoy isn't for another few hours, and even now I am locked in a part of my mind that contains nothing but him. I decide that the most prudent call of action is to spend my time munching in front of the TV and then getting ready for my lunch date.

While I am watching a fantastic episode of a crazy reality show – which happens to just be code for complete trash, (daytime TV is hardly the most riveting) – and trying to keep my mind from straying into 'Malfoy dominated' areas, the front door sounds and I find myself with a visitor.

"Ginny, what are you doing here?" I ask, fussing over my frizzy hair and trying to make sure that my breath doesn't smell absolutely hideous – because brushing my teeth took a decidedly far back seat while most of my attention fell on a certain Slytherin.

"You have not been using that shampoo I sent you!" Ginny snaps, moving into the room and taking a seat on the sofa. Ginny looks around, taking in the state of the room and then the state of myself before coming to the conclusion that, "We need a spa retreat, I mean you have lost all sense of purpose and I could really use a break from my mother and every other constant in my life – i.e my stupid brothers."

"Spa retreat? Really?" I shudder at the thought, "I can think of many more interesting things to do than that... I mean, does eating in front of the TV not sound like a great alternative?" I say holding up my packet of Doritos and waving them in front of her nose, "It will be so much cheaper too,"

She doesn't even laugh, "I'll pay,"

Scrunching up my nose, I realise that I have reached the end of the packet in my lap. "I still think that ordering three different types of take away and munching our way through them will be so much more exciting and life affirming." I mutter, though I don't think that I am having much effect with my dissuading attempts.

"Considering that you don't have a job," way to rub salt in a wound, Ginny. "we can leave straight away – I should go and make reservations for tonight, I'm sure somewhere will have a place." She seems to be talking to herself.

"Wouldn't you much rather stay here and just talk the problems out? What did your family do to you?" I ask, "Plus, I can't go today, I have a lunch date." Finally, she smiles.

"With who?" She asks, excited.

Tipping my head to the side, I watch her reaction as I mention his name, "Draco,"

"As in Draco Malfoy?" She asks.

Smirking I say, "How common of a name do you think Draco is?"

Ginny stands, flipping her hair back and making her way to my room as she says, "Not any less common that Hermione." And then she disappears beyond the wall, so I have to strain my ears as she calls, "We need to find you an outfit."

The remaining two hours before my date find me with lots of unidentified product shining in my hair and a rather crispy face mask that leaves my face itchy. Ginny continues to bat my hand away every time I move to scratch my nose and scoffs every time I tell her that I could be allergic to it. While stressing over the irritating issue of my skin, I also have to listen to Ginny recount the morning events.

"And then, Ron's new 'Girlfriend' asked me if I had gone to the hairdressers recently because I was looking mighty ruff – but that was after she asked me if I wanted the number for a tailor so they can take out my trousers because she thought they looked a bit tight." Sighing, she curls the last piece of my hair into a more manageable curl than my normal hair, "Why would she say those things? I mean, wouldn't it be a good idea to get on his sisters good side if she wants to stick around."

I don't day anything, instead I let Ginny rant it out, "And then mum agreed with her and said that if I want to find myself a boyfriend I need to start taking care of myself. I look better than them all combined!" she huffs indignantly.

"Don't worry Ginny, I'm sure this girl won't be around long enough for us to remember her name." I tell her.

Finally I am what Ginny deems 'ready' – and the rest of us call 'exaggerated' – and she smiles.

* * *

When I arrive at the offices, I make my way to Malfoy's floor. His door is open as I reach it.

He doesn't look up at me, so I take the time to watch him as he surrounds himself in his own world.

For once, his hair is all messed up in this totally sexy way, instead of being in its usually perfect sleekness. I smile as his right hand moves along the thick pages, playing with the tip of the book that is placed casually on his desk.

His eyes scrunched in an adorable way as he strains to see what is written on the yellowing pages. I cough slightly and he looks up, smiling through to his eyes as he sees me which leaves a pleasant feeling at the bottom of my stomach.

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Thank you to everyone who reviewed :) xx


	25. The Queen Of Hell!

**Hey, I am sorry for the delay, but my friends had their Italian GCSE writing, and, as I am the only Italian they know, I had to spend ages helping them to write and correct the drafts, so this meant that all my time was spent running through things that they should have learnt ages ago – hence all my writing was in Italian and not of much use to you guys. So I hope that this is worth the wait and you guys will drop a little review. **

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Four weeks pass as the blissful beginning of our relationship develops into something even more amazing.

I feel like it is prudent to point out that I have never had an extended committed relationship – and I would bet my last penny on the fact that Draco Malfoy probably has never had one either – so the fact that we are lying here in his bed (for the fourth night in a row) without having so much as a finger creep into my knickers leaves my quite impressed with his self control.

I asked him after our second date why he hadn't tried to push our relationship further than it had gone that one night – I received a vague response for my trouble and decided to drop it. The closer we get before taking it to the next step means that it will be just that much better.

Over the last week, I had started inching my way back into the plans for the sanctuary... he just left them lying around... with blank post its and a pen... and rubbish ideas... so I just had to change them! It was my duty to everyone involved.

I think he left them out there with purpose, I think he was stumped and too full of pride to ask for help – knowing Draco it is quite possible that his inflated ego wouldn't allow him to ask me for any sort of help whatsoever.

We lie together now, in the middle of the sea of sheets, huddling close for warmth – I'm not kidding when I say that he lives like a snowman, I had to remind him at one point that the rest of us need some form of heat to keep the blood pumping through our veins because we are not all cold blooded!

His fingertips run soft circles on my stomach, tracing the dip of my hip bones on either side and then circling around my belly button, all the while with my top hitched up around my ribs. His hands are warm, boiling, no chance of a trace of Goosebumps in their wake. "Draco?" I ask, pressing my hand to his head, using the back of my palm to feel his temperature, "Are you alright, you are really warm?"

"Perfect," He smiles, nuzzling his head into the valley between my breasts and breathing in deeply with a soft sigh, "Tell me something else about you." I push my worry aside for now, even though the trail of his heated fingertips along my skin has me worrying about a fever.

This had been sort of a game every night we spent together; a game to help us get to know the trivial things about ourselves. At the beginning it had been embarrassing to tell him the odd little things about myself, and then he started calling them cute, so it doesn't really bother me anymore. "I'm rubbish at spelling,"

"That's a stupid one," He tells me, shaking his head and breathing out slightly – the flush of air ripples over my chest and makes e crave the touch of his lips – "Do you really think that I haven't realised that for myself, considering that you spelt 'hippogriff' wrong on those post its you keep dropping about the place." I stop running my fingers through his hair and slap his forehead slightly, "Really, Granger? One P, one F and two G's. Not to mention that you spelt 'hysterical' wrong when you were trying to insult me... that one backfired didn't it!" he laughs, "Think of something else."

"You are going to think I am weird!" I say. Grabbing my hips, he rolls us over so I am lying on top of him; I flop my head against his neck and mumble something.

"Speak up, Granger." While I have stopped calling him by his surname he seems to have held onto that little bit of our past. It has honestly begun to grow on me.

Peeking to the side, his grey eyes meet mine and he smiles, "I used to pretend I had a purple dragon named Monty, and I used to introduce him to everyone I met until I was eleven, he used to have a special seat at the table and I used to make him all this special food," I tell him, "And when I was lonely I had all these conversations with him and pretend he was talking back. I think it was because I didn't have very many friends as a child."

He laughs playfully, spinning us over again and pressing his lips into mine gently, "I think it is cute."

"Your turn." I say, pulling away from him and settling us back down into the soft embrace of the twisted sheets, "It has to be something good!"

He pulls a pillow over his face and I struggle with him until I am able to see his cheeks tingeing pink, "I slept with a stuffed snake until I was thirteen, I had to threaten all the boys in my dorm not to tell anyone!"Burying his head under his pillow I begin to howl with laughter, giggling to myself as he slips into a mortified silence – one of those deathly silenced which I should have realise was a trap – before I feel his hands on my hips and I am pushed off of the bed and dumped easily onto the floor with a loud thump. He regains some composure and then continues, "The only reason I stopped sleeping with the toy was because my father told me that if I had such a desire for a pet snake he would buy me one, and I was too scared to tell him I was afraid of snakes."

Scrunching up his nose he flops onto his back and pulls a pillow over his face. "What was its name?" I ask, trying to hold back my giggles – this is better than the time he told me that he had pissed off Pansy Parkinson and had to run starkers through the packed common room.

Trying to pretend he has no recollection of telling me this titbit of information, he asks, "Whose name?" but this just makes it worse and I struggle to retail my giggles.

"Your snake's?" I can't hold it in anymore.

"Noodle."

"HA!" I gasp, "Sorry." Holding my hand up to try and pacify him, I gulp in some air and swallow. "You know, the only reason it is so funny is because it is you!" I smile, "Draco 'I'm a dickhead' Malfoy had a teddy bear until he was thirteen."

"It was a snake, not a teddy bear." I continue to laugh, "Fine," he sulks, "I'm going to sleep downstairs."

"Don't forget Noodle, you might have a bad dream." I can't help it. He is usually so controlled and composed that something like this seems hilarious. "Sorry, Draco I am sorry!" I scramble after him as he gets out of bed, grabs a pillow and stomps out of the room. "Come on, I was joking." I sigh, and then gasp in shock as he slams the door behind him before I can follow.

I slump back down on the bed, feeling like a reprimanded child and run my fingers through my hair.

* * *

Until he crawls back into bed – sometime between two and three in the morning – I can't sleep. The bed is too cold and then too clammy and then too stifling. As soon as I feel his arms fall around my waist, I grip onto him and sigh. "I'm sorry."

"You owe me something else." He tells me, smiling into my hair, "Another secret."

I gulp, holding my breath slightly and then spilling out y biggest secret. Until now, we had steered clear of sexual history, or lack thereof, but I feel like now, in the dark shadows of the night, I shouldn't refrain from telling him anymore. "I'm still a virgin."

"I'm glad."

"You don't sound surprised,"

"I'm not." He curls back into me, pulling my hand to his face and pressing his lips into my wrist and he takes a deep breath. I fall asleep with a content smile on my face.

As the dawn of the next morning arrives, I find the bed cold and empty as I wake. Draco is nowhere to be seen and the note taped to the door tells me why.

_Meeting this morning; had to leave early._

_You looked too happy to wake – I hope you were dreaming of me._

_Xx_

I sigh, getting up and walking over to my clothes. I pull my jumper and skirt on and then jump through the floo and land back in my own living room to make myself something to eat.

* * *

With the arrival of lunchtime, came Sirius Black, sauntering through the floo and smiling brightly. Over the last few weeks, the life drawn from him seemed to have been shuffled back in. "Good day, darling." He kisses my cheek gently and then makes himself at home in front of the TV – feet up and munching on a bag of crisps.

I smile tentatively to myself – everything over the last few weeks seems to have been shoved into some kind of order. An order that work and has everyone smiling... well everyone but Ginny, but that is a story for later. I just left me wondering how long it was all going to last. Like the quiet before a storm.

"How is everything going Sirius?" I ask, dropping lightly onto the sofa next to him and wriggling to find some comfort in the lumpy cushions.

"Everything is going perfectly," He smiles, still looking at the TV and watching as a team of sweaty men shove a football around between them. I don't think he understands the game, but I find that Sirius rarely understands anything Muggle.

The only reason he learned how to use the toaster was because I was so scared he would burn down the apartment after he dropped butter in it and set the whole thing alight. I was so shocked that I just stood there and watched the fire until Sirius snapped out of it and diffused the blaze by shooting a jet of water out of his wand. The only thing he had to say was, "I think this thing is broken." And then he walked back to the couch and left me with a drowned, smoky kitchen.

I nod, "When are we going to meet her?" really all I wanted to know was when _I _was going to meet her, but Sirius just shrugged noncommittally and continued to watch the TV. "When is the baby due?"

For some reason, Wizarding pregnancies last two months less that Muggle pregnancies. Assuming that she was already a month or so along when she confided in Sirius, and he didn't tell me until a month or so after that – and what with the time that has passed since then, it can't be that long.

Harry and Sofia are only a month away from their due date now, "Two months today." He tells me, and I nod to myself. "Would you like to meet her, Hermione?" He asks suddenly, "I think you two would get along well,"

"I would like to meet her very much, Sirius," I say, smiling and picking at some thread on the side of a throw pillow.

Nodding, he smiles as well. "Soon then." He tells me, gripping onto my hand lightly and then dropping it as he turns back to the TV.

We watch the little black box together – in silence – for three hours until it is time to go to the Weasley's for dinner. I click the off button on the remote, ignore the pout of displeasure that Sirius throws my way and hold the pot of green powder out for him to take.

Sauntering over at his leisure – and to my great annoyance – Sirius pulls on a zip up jumper and takes a handful of green powder before jumping into the fire place and sliding through the flames and into the burrow.

* * *

I follow quickly, receiving a warm round of welcomes and a big hug from Teddy as he rushes forwards. I have to grab him before he reaches the flames though, it seems that he doesn't really see the danger yet.

"How is my favourite little boy?" I ask, holding onto him tightly as I tickle his stomach with one of my fingers. He descends into fits of cut little giggles and his hair changes from blue to pink to green and then back again. "You are getting big now." I smile and hitch him higher on my hip.

"Yep, I a big boy now." He smiles, and I carry him into the dining room before settling him into a high chair and finding a seat of my own.

Harry and Sofia sit at the far end. Sofia waves at me from her seat – the effort of standing up to greet me obviously too much as she presses a hand to her stomach and shuffles uncomfortably in her seat. Ron moves behind me, placing a hand on my waist and pressing a kiss into my cheek. The woman sitting next to his vacant seat glares at me.

Suddenly Ginny's idea of a getaway a few weeks ago is starting to feel like a missed opportunity. "Hey Ron," I smile, hugging his tightly and then backing up to say hello to Ginny. "How are you?" I ask quietly as she takes hold of my hand and drags me out of the room.

"You said she that she would be gone by now," She hisses, her face almost matching her hair.

Shrugging I look back into the room to make sure that no one is listening to us, "How was I supposed to know that the one girl Ron really does like happens to be the biggest monster in existence." I shrug, "Anyway, it is not like she is just attacking you anymore. We all hate her now." I remind her.

Fleur Weasley saunters into the corridor where we are standing, "Living ro'om." She says, shuffling us along and then shutting the door behind us.

After the first few years of painful arguing between Ginny, Fleur and I, we decided that it would be easier if we all just got along, and there when the Bitch Queen – AKA; Ron's new girlfriend Jenifer – arrived, we just got that much closer.

When I met Jenifer for the first time two weeks ago, I thought that Ginny had to be over exaggerating. I was so wrong.

She cornered me ten minutes after I made it through the floo. She started with a nice cover – I, obviously delusional, decided that she was a nice person – by the end of the conversation she had ripped a hole through just about everything (my clothes, my hair, my job, my past relationships with Ron...everything!) and I was left almost in tears as Ginny and Sirius pulled me into a big group hug, and Ginny said a very cold, "Serves you right because I did tell you she was a cow."

Fleur had to be held back by a disgruntled Bill Weasley as Jenifer looked down her nose and muttered something about Fleur's hair. Considering Fleur is a quarter Veela, I don't think Jenifer can talk much. "She just called me fat!" Fleur hisses in her strong French accent. "Fat! I am like a model compared to zat... zat troll!" Modesty is not one of Fluer's finer points, but is see her point. And considering that she really is a very nice person, her lack of modesty can be overlooked.

"She has to go!" Ginny says.

"You zink we shood keel her?" Fleur's voice thickens as ideas run through her mind, her accent falling through every word she speaks. Over the years the accent has become less notable, unless she is distressed or thinking very, very hard. She was obviously _very _offended when she was called fat!

I start shaking my head, laughing along to myself until Ginny says, "Do you think we would get away with it?" a slight smile playing across her lips.

"Both of you shut up!" I reprimand, stopping any ideas from formulating. Neither would ever carry out the plans, but I am sure that envisioning someone dying is step one of the ladder to insanity.

Both Fleur and Ginny start laughing, "Stop ruining our fun, Hermione." Ginny admonishes. "We would never hurt her... physically."

"I so glad that you two managed to bond." I tell them, opening the door to the living room and making my way to the kitchen as I hear their peals of laughter behind me. "Let me help with that," I say, taking hold of one of the many trays and taking it into the dining room just as Fleur and Ginny enter.

I watch as Ginny makes her way past Jenifer, making a face at her back and causing the rest of the table to laugh, though she quickly moves on as Ron and Jenifer spin round to see what the rest of the table finds to amusing.

* * *

We all take a seat and have to watch as Ron and Jenifer make moony faces at each other. "Hermione don't you think you should start looking for another job soon," Jenifer spins quickly and stabs me with a question. Though she is far from done.

The rest of the table sits in silence, collecting ammunition to use against her, and George rests and hand on my thigh and gives it a squeeze as we all know what is coming. "I just think that it is so lazy that you haven't even tried to find somewhere else to work. I have a friend who needs a cleaner, I could give her your details." She sighs, picking through her potatoes, muttering, "I don't know why Draco Malfoy would even hire you-"under her breath.

Before she can continue, Ginny jumps in. No doubt she is trying to help, but all it does is provide the Queen of Hell with more fuel for her fire, "Draco and Hermione are actually dating now."

It was hard to tell the Weasley's at first, but Draco told me that if he managed to tell his parents than I should be able to tell Harry and Ron. And where there is Harry and Ron, there is a bunch of Weasley's that are never too far away.

All in all, they took it rather well considering that they had never been very friendly. Sirius and Ginny were a God send; keeping everything under control and breaking the ice.

"Wasn't he supposed to be coming round tonight, Hermione?" true to form Draco Malfoy had probably decided to be fashionably late. There was one spare chair at the table, I note now, after completely forgetting that Draco was supposed to be coming. And the chair is right next to Jenifer – mostly because no one but Ron wants to be so close to the firing zone.

All of a sudden there are foot falls in the living room and Draco opens the door to where we are all sitting. I had warned him about the new girlfriend and – after taking in all the red hair and the faces he knows from our past – sends a glare my way as he realises that the only seat open is next to her. "Weasley's," he nods, "Potter's." He makes his way over to me after being pulled into a hug by Molly, he presses a kiss to the hollow under my ear and then whispers, "You couldn't have saved me a seat next to you?"

"Last come, worst company!" I laugh, turning my head to wink slightly and then pushing him away to take the seat opposite me and next to Jenifer.

"So, as I was saying," Jenifer, not liking the way that the attention – no matter how negative it might be – has been pulled from her, continues, "You really should try and find a new job, it's so lazy of you to not even bother." Draco's eyes widen as she turns on him, "I don't know why you would even want her," she says, her voice lower now, "So boring-"

"I don't think you want to finish that sentence." Draco says his voice calm and deadly. Jenifer looks abashed, not knowing how to feel now that someone has obviously turned on her. "And for the record, I think you should keep any comments to yourself."

"Excuse me!" Jenifer rises from her seat, the rest of us can hardly contain our expressions of glee and suppress the urge to shout 'fight, fight, fight.'

"You are excused." Draco says, pilling his plate with potatoes and then deciding to ignore her as he turns to look at Harry and Sofia instead, jokingly muttering about how he can hardly handle one Harry Potter let alone two.

The tension diffuses. Ron sits oblivious – I have to say that he has always been a little dense about some things, but there is no way that he is this deluded. Maybe she is really nice to him. Who knows?

* * *

Eventually we all move to the living room. Sirius and Draco sit playing a game of Wizard Chess in the corner, both concentrating immensely and sporting identical masks of concentration. Ron and Jenifer disappeared a while ago, to the immense relief of the rest of us, and the atmosphere in the room is much calmer. Harry and Fred play a game of exploding snap that has the room clouding with smoke – and Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes product that is immensely annoying – and the rest of us sit on the floor of the living room; munching on a Carrot cake Mrs. Weasley made and listening to some music.

A catchy song by the Weird Sisters comes onto the radio and George pulls me to my feet as Bill and Fleur join us in the centre of the living room; dancing. We spin around, the rest of the room laughing and joining in as we all smile.

A sudden flash shows Mrs. Weasley with a camera and we all smile and laugh as the moment is recorded.

For once, I think as Draco moves behind me to take me from George's arms – as George decides that Tonks really should be joining in – everything seems to be going perfectly.

But really how long can it last? I think to myself, but instead of dwelling like I usually do, I push it to the side and enjoy the moment as Fred decides that this is the best time to try singing.

* * *

**I hope that you like it. I don't know how you will take to Jenifer, but I really need a stirring character to mess everything up – for we can't have a good story without a little mess in the middle. **

**Please review :)**


	26. Jaden Albus Potter

**It has been snowing here in London all day, big puffy flakes that make me smile as I sit here typing looking out of my window :). I love the snow. **

**My school was cancelled today – not for the snow – but because there is a teacher training thing so we didn't have to go in :). So I decided to gift you all with a chapter. Well, it was either this or study mechanics – it was a pretty easy choice.**

* * *

The snow started falling at some point during the night continuing until the early hours of the morning. The night of the sixteenth of February, three and a half weeks after the day at the burrow.

Harry and Sofia had taken to housing up in the Burrow with Molly Weasley for the last few weeks of her pregnancy. There was no time off for Harry, so he wanted to make sure that Sofia was looked after every moment of the day – and well, I just think that Molly disliked the absence of people for her to fuss over.

The night of the February 16th, I was out with Draco. A belated Valentines as he had to work on the actual day.

We were at this exclusive restaurant – the Malfoy's really do just have to drop a hat and the world comes running – and dining together when we got the call.

Everything between Draco and I has been going perfectly. From the smiles and the kind words and days out. Everything was stunning. Everything _is _stunning.

And now, as we stand here in the waiting room of St. Mungos – the morning of February 17th – with the rest of the Weasley clan and Sofia's parents, I can't help smiling. Ginny sits with us, holding onto the hand that is not clasped in Draco's fist, and watching the door of the room impatiently. Her leg bobs up and down in an annoying rhythm and I just about manage to refrain from hitting her because I am just as anxious as she is.

Standing up to pace, Draco follows and walks me to the water dispenser. "You ok?" he asks, taking a cup and filling it up for me, he pushes it into my hands and takes one of his own.

"Just anxious." I tell him, smiling and looking back towards the door, "I always get caught up with things and time starts to run away from me," He places a hand on my hip and pulls me closer into his body, "I completely forgot that it was so soon, and then when I got the call I was so shocked!"

"Yeah, it seems that even now Potter is trying to ruin everything for me." He jokes, smiling and pulling a face that makes me fall into laughter.

"We can go out another time."

"Many more times, Granger." He tells me, moving closer to my neck and pressing kisses up along my jaw line, "You don't assume you are going to get rid of me anytime soon, do you?" He asks and I shake my head, making sure to keep my breathing in check and to seal my lips against the oncoming moan.

Every time I think that we are getting somewhere, getting closer and closer to falling into bed together, he does something like this and then halts everything in the process, stopping just before I can hook my thumbs into my knickers and take the last step.

I'm so worked up, that I am actually considering throwing myself on the floor and refusing to get up until he gives in. "We don't need any more babies right now!" George yells over, Draco stiffens and turns, holding his body in front of mine and tensing. George smirks and receives a growl for his efforts.

I grip onto his lower arm, sinewy muscle pulses under my fingertips and his body is scalding. "Draco, what is going on?" I ask, dragging him round to face me.

Shaking his head, he sighs, "Nothing." Suddenly I notice the flash in his eyes, the flash from black back to their original grey. Shaking my head, I look over his shoulder and realise that the door to the room has opened. A tired looking Harry walks out into the open and smiles at the assembled crowd.

* * *

"Oh my God, you look awful." Jenifer has arrived. Fleur has to be held back by Ginny – who is showing a very large heaping of restraint, as she also looks murderous.

"I zink we shood rezink keeling her." Fleur mutters quietly and both Ginny and I burst into fits of laughter – thankfully no one else heard.

The Weasley boys turn to face her, standing in front of Ginny, Fleur and I as they stare her down. "Ron can you control your girlfriend." Charlie mutters before gripping onto mine and Ginny's arms and pulling us towards Harry and the open doorway.

Charlie came back to London as a favour for me as Draco needed someone who was good with the Magical creatures to sort through some of the final details. Charlie eventually decided that even though the Malfoy pay was higher, nothing could take him away from the dragons in Romania, and decided to only be a temporary consultant and oversee the building project. But he decided to hang around to be with his family and to see baby Potter for the first time before heading back.

I look back over my shoulder, Jenifer looks thoroughly taken aback. First Draco, then Charlie and I think that Fred and George pulled a few 'Fred and George' style pranks that would have left you fuming. The rest of the Weasley's move into the room with us, and Harry – with many apologies to Ron – tells her that she is not allowed to see his wife if she is going to be rude.

The rest of us can't even really decide why she is here in the first place. "Hermione," Harry takes hold of my arm and pulls me closer to the bed, "Come and meet your God son."

"Oh, isn't he gorgeous." I gasp, waking over and taking the little baby boy that Sofia passes to me gently. "Hello little one." He blinks, fisting a hand and scrunching up his face before tucking his head further into his blanket and nodding off. "What is his name?" I ask, looking at Harry.

"Jaden Albus Potter." Harry tells us. Ginny leans over and takes little Jaden from my arms.

Draco stands behind me, hugging my waist and resting his head on my shoulder. "Congratulations, man." Draco says, reaching a hand around me and shaking hands with Harry.

Harry beams at us, "Thanks mate." He says looking back to his son that Charlie is taking his turn holding. Molly Weasley bustles forwards, taking the baby and fussing over him. I can't keep the smile off my face as I look around.

Who would have ever thought? Harry and Draco standing together smiling and laughing at the birth of Harry's newborn, the rest of the Weasley family standing together and fussing over Jaden as Fleur and Ginny – long time enemies – laugh and giggle and cry together in the corner.

* * *

We excuse ourselves – Draco and I – after half an hour, deciding that we should probably set the ball rolling on leaving Harry and Sofia in peace. "Let's go home." Draco says to me as we stand among the Weasley's. We bid out goodbyes and make out way to the St. Mungos floo.

It's funny that somewhere over the last few weeks he started referring to his home as _our _home. It causes this little burst of happiness in my stomach that has my heart somersaulting between my ribs.

A few minutes later we step out in Draco's room. "Let's go to bed." He says, helping me to tak of my coat and then the rest of my clothes, before grabbing a t-shirt and passing it to me.

We lie in silence for a few minutes, holding onto each other under the silk covers.

"Do you ever think about children?" He asks suddenly, pushing my hair back from my shoulders and letting his head rest with his lips brushing my collar bone.

I look down, not really knowing what to say. Men are always so odd with these types of conversations. Well, he was the one to ask so maybe I should just go for honest? "Yeah, I think most women do."

"What about with me?"

I gulp, feeling very 'put on the spot' here. If I tell him I do think about him like that, they he might be scared off, and if I tell him that I don't, he might be offended. "Do you?"

"I asked you first."

"Well, I asked you second."

He laughs into my neck, his breath tickling my skin and rousing Goosebumps. "I know that recently you have been annoyed because I keep pulling you to the edge and then dropping it, but I want this to be perfect. I want everything with you to be perfect." He rolls on top of me, looking into my eyes before pressing a soft kiss into my lips. "I want you to be so happy with me that you never ever want anyone else." My heart races in my chest, beating and thudding and jumping around as I try and take deep breaths to calm myself.

"I am happy." I tell him, reaching up with one hand to push away the few pieces of hair that have slipped in front of his eyes - eyes that are twisting from grey to black and back again. Eyes that sparkle silver before changing right in front of my very own eyes. I gasp, running my finger from his forehead down to the crease of his eyes and the circling them. When he realises what I am doing he slams his eyes shut tightly. "Are you ok?"

He pulls away from me slightly. "Stop asking me that." He tells me, his voice not angry or indignant, just calm.

I sit up, leaning closer to him as he pulls away, his legs still straddling my thighs. "Then tell me what is wrong." I say trying to keep calm.

Shaking his head, he gets his breathing under control, pushing his head into my skin and breathing in deeply as if it calms him. "Not yet." He pushes us back down against the bed, his hand whispering up my thigh and resting against my heated skin – his hand like a flame.

"Ok," I say, stroking his hair back so I can look at the lids of his eyes, "Whenever you are ready then."

Shaking his head, he lets his hair drop forwards again, a curtain that shields him from my gaze. "You might hate me." He manages to force out with what looks like a lot of effort.

I shake my head firmly, the movement almost displacing him from my body. "I don't think I could ever hate you," I whisper calmly, but it sounds loud in the heavy, pressing silence of the room. The tension crawls over my skin, holding onto me and slithering between us.

He rises up on his arms holding his body over me; the silvery grey covers creating a soft, comfortable tent around us. "You used to."

"I never hated you," I tell him, "Hate is such a strong word." I feel the need to push the thoughts running through his mind aside, "I disliked you a lot, but you have changed, Draco." I remind him, "You are not the same person anymore."

"I'm sorry for everything I have ever done to ever hurt you," He shakes his head, looking down at me with scared eyes, "I don't ever want to hurt you again." Running a finger down my face he trails it down my neck, past my shoulders and into the valley between my breasts before he removes his hand. "I love you."

* * *

**I hope that you guys liked it :) I know that there hasn't been very much Dramione in the past two chapters, but I promise that the next chapter will be all them. And then I also have a few chapters with all the slytherins – because I think we have had too many chapters without them. **

**Oh, and thank you to the person who gave me Baby Potter's name – you didn't sign your review but this chapter goes to you :)**

**Oh, and if you have decided to read this far down, I think I am going to write a Hermione/ Regulus story after this one, but I am not sure yet. I have written the first two chapters, but I'm not sure whether to just abandon it – what do you guys think? If you guys want to read the first chapter than say so if you review and I will send it to you through a PM and you can tell me what you think **

**Thanks for reading please leave a review. **


	27. A Shocking Surprise

**Happy valentine's day everyone :) I thought I would gift you all with a new chapter. Thank you to everyone who reviewed – they always make me smile.**

* * *

My blood freezes in my veins. My heats falters as ice shivers over my skin and a breeze dances into the room from the window.

_Oh god. _

_Oh my god. _

_Dear Merlin. _

"You don't have to say it back," He rushes out quickly. "You really don't have to say it now – or ever, if you don't want to."

_Oh fucking hell. _

All of a sudden the moment is gone. The time to profess any feelings that I may or may not have had is over, and he is rolling away from me as if he didn't just completely shatter my perfectly carved world. Everything was going so fucking perfectly.

I look at the way that his blond hairs caress the pillow and I feel the urge to stretch my hand and brush the back of his neck gently, but I don't. Draco Malfoy in general is a bit of a snarky bastard – but with a bruised ego, I doubt he would be very tolerable.

"I should go." I stand, pushing the warm covers away from my body and rising on shaking legs. "I'm sorry." I don't know why it slipped out. I don't even know what I was apologising for. Maybe for deciding to get up and walk out. Or for maybe because I can't manage to open my mouth and squeeze out words that I know lie somewhere in me. Maybe because I still have doubts about his intentions even though I am so happy. It could be any one of these reasons. And I have no idea which.

I turn back to meet his eyes and I try to smile at him, try – with all of remaining energy I have (there isn't much of it left after the long day that we have had) – to convince him that we will be ok... because we will – though, right now I have to think.

His voice is lonely in the quiet of the room. "Stay."

Pushing back the covers off his own body, he makes haste as stops me before I can make it to the floo entrance. The escape route stands two meters away from me – the gilded frame taunting and laughing with the flicker of the flames – and Draco's large body blocking it. "Draco, please let me go."

"Not like this." Shaking his head, his eyes deaden in the already sunken holes. Considering that I sleep at his side every night, I never noticed how little sleep he must be getting if the gaunt look is anything to go by.

Sighing, I slump back onto the side of the bed, holding my head in my hands and running the pads of my fingertips across my scalp. A sleep craving brain is not the most effective weapon when engaging in a battle of wits with Draco. "I don't know why, Draco?"

"Why what?"

"Why I can't say it back." I tell him, trying – and failing – to hold my head high under his pressing gaze.

Shaking his head, he kneels before me and pulls my hands into his grasp. "I am not asking you to."

"But you want it." I make an effort to turn away, but he won't allow it. "I can see it in your eyes." I try to prize my arms from his grip, but I can't. "What happened to you?" I whisper, noticing the notches of muscle crawling up his skin. The body I used to crave for being so lean and agile is not there anymore. The changes are slight, but I can still feel the difference.

I can feel the ripple and shift of new muscle tensing, stretching and dancing under his pale skin, ligaments moving with every pull and push of his wrist or elbow and the peaks and dives of the new tissue that extends throughout his upper body.

Shaking his head, his eyes shuttered in what appears to be befuddlement but could easily be something else; he drops my wrists as if scolded. "What are you talking about?" spinning away from me, he walking back towards the fire place and rests his hands on the overhanging marble ledge with his body turned away and his eyes cast downwards.

I start, rubbing my wrists at his quick dismissal and noticing the red marks for the first time. "Your body–"

"Stop changing the subject." He snarls suddenly, "You were right, I wanted you to say it back. But you can't, so just leave."

I watch as he turns to me once more, his eyes the deepest black that I have ever seen. "Draco-" I plead with my eyes, asking for him to open up, to let me in, even though I know that I hardly deserve it right now.

"No." He suddenly roars, his body shaking and twisting and heaving, though as I blink my eyes it is gone. "You need to leave, now!"

"No." I'm yelling now, and I start to count on my lucky stars that he doesn't have any neighbours within yelling distance.

Finally, he turns to face me fully. His body stretches in the darkness; wide shoulders leading to tense arms, narrow hips leading to legs ready to pounce.

I don't know what makes me scream. Maybe it is the way that his incisors seem to drip down, catching his lips and drawing blood that pools before the cuts vanish easily. Or maybe it is the way that his body convulses again before he begins to scream.

The noise tears through the silence, pushing and pulling and clawing and scratching at my heart and soul. I cry, tears dropping onto my cheeks and lips so I can taste the saltiness, but I don't even register that my eyes are leaking.

I begin to take faltering steps away; each footfall thudding, though almost unheard to my ears in the messy commotion of the room. Draco seems to notice though. He raises his eyes. His mouth encased in his own blood that he wipes away easily with the back of his hand, his cheekbones jut out wildly from his pale cheeks and his eyes glitter with something that I have never seen before. Something dangerous. Something alluring and possessive and enchanting. Something new and different.

It is like the worst kind of torture to watch him watch me. To see the gaunt, hollow look to his face and the tense lock of his fingers in pain and not be able to do anything.

But he doesn't seem to be worrying about any of that.

He's advancing. Slowly and purposely – pushing closer and closer as I try and scramble to the other side of the bed.

He speaks. "My mate doesn't need to fear me." I don't hear the words, as the second he opens his mouth to speak, wings erupt from his back – and I scream. They thrust into the room, pulsing and – though the feathers are the deepest black – they seem to be glowing.

Millions of feathers slip and slide over each other as they shiver with the roll of Malfoy's back and then with every breath he takes. Each feather catches and refracts the light in its own special way. And suddenly my fear seems irrational. And every thought is forgotten as I watch his shoulders slump slightly in defeat and hopelessness as he watches me push further and further away from me. "Don't need to be afraid." He whispers again.

I'm drawn forwards.

My hands move of their own accord, touching and slipping my fingers over the soft extension of his body, watching as each feather ripples with the slight pull of my fingers. Every pass lets a small sigh of pleasure rumble from Malfoy's throat, and I instantly realise that this is way too personal – way too close.

And then, the haze gone, I realise where I am and what I am doing.

I realise what is standing before me.

A fully grown Male Veela. A vela with pheromones that can influence the behaviour of those around them. Influence _my _behaviour.

I step back.

One step.

Two.

Three...until I feel that I am at a safe distance. "Malfoy?"

I cower in the corner feeling helpless and pathetic as I watch him stalk forwards, towering and intimidating as his wings stretch to span almost the entire room.

"I need you." He whispers, and I barely catch it. "Help me."

"You used your pheromones to trick me, you made me forget my fear so I would touch you." I hiss angrily, pushing myself away from the wall and trying to square my shoulders to appear slightly more intimidating – though I hardly compare to an eight foot wing span.

Shaking his head, he firmly answers, "No."

"Please tell me that you have not been using pheromones all this time." I manage to choke out.

"No." His eyes plead and beg, in the space between us. I meet them easily. "I have never–"

"Y-you just did." I say.

Shaking his head, he slumps back onto the bed, curling up into himself and he seems to implore with his actions that I have to believe him. "Ok." I say finally, moving closer and sitting next to him, extending my hand out and whispering it slightly over his skin.

"You believe me?" He asks, his body language changes from hopeless to hopeful in an instant.

I nod, not telling him that I can feel it now. The distinct separation between my actions under my own will and those influenced by him. There is a clear difference after the effects of his control has worn off.

"You should have told me."

"Please don't talk." He whispers, lying back on the bed and opening his wings and arms before pulling me down to rest by his side. "I need you to just be here," murmuring in the darkness as he shuts off the lights, he wraps himself around me, breathing in deeply and then smiling contentedly before shutting his eyes and drifting off to sleep.

Swallowed by the darkness, alone with my thoughts – because sleep continues to evade me – I am able to whisper "I love you too," To his sleeping form.

It's real.

And I mean it.

I just don't know why I couldn't say it before.

* * *

**Thank you for reading. Again happy Valentines. I hoped you liked it and have time to post a little review :) i know it was a little short but it felt like the right place to stop and i didn't want to drag it out.  
**


	28. Introducing Beatrice

**Ok, i was supposed to publish this on Wednesday, but I just couldn't write the chapter. Finally I managed to break three thousand words and now I am going to reward myself by watching TV. **

**I also went to see A good Day to Die Hard at the cinema – I would really recommend seeing it if you are into action films – or not into them, I am crazy about action films (is anyone else super excited for Fast and Furious 6!) and I dragged some of my friends who hate them to watch it and they loved it too! because it was amazing :) I have just realised how much like an advert I sound!**

**:)**

* * *

His wings don't retract until some point in the middle of the night. I feel the warmth pulsing over my body disperse and when I look down the razor sharp incisors have receded back into their normal shape.

I cannot sleep. From the moment we lay down to the rise of the sun, I am not able to close off my brain. It seems to be in a constant whirlwind of thoughts that just won't rest.

Veela.

Veela.

Veela.

Mate.

_Mate. ME!_

Veela.

The two words spin like a tornado through my thoughts, casting aside everything else and needling its way into the forefront of my mind.

By the time the feathers creating a blanket over my body finally disappear, I have started to get used to the idea. They really are beautiful. Like the wings of an angel. A little part of my chest hurts; the part that holds my heart.

I hate myself as I lie in the dark silence of the room. For turning away when he needed me. For accusing him of trying to control my emotions. For being scared. For not being able to tell him how I really feel.

I lift my fist that is intertwined with his and press a kiss to the inside of his wrist. A warm rumble passes through his chest, an animalistic sound that pushes my thoughts back to what he is, and when I finally look down I realise that his eyes are open. They are no longer the silvery grey that I have come to recognise so easily.

They are a mix between grey and black. Hard. Scary. Different . But still so familiar that it makes my heart hurt. "You are awake." Pointing out the obvious seems like a good idea. _Stick to things that you know. _

"Yes." Obviously he is not going to be much help right now.

"Yes." I repeat, not sure what I should say or do or where I should look. The tense atmosphere from last night has settles like snow over the room once more and a shiver crawls up my spine. Draco seems to feel it and his wings sprout again to cover e in the thick fringe of feathers.

"Thank you." I whisper, my shock and awe that the wings had actually been real leaves me speechless, so I let him cocoon me into the hard contours of his body and the soft, pliable feathers.

Shaking his head before pressing his cheek into my hair, he mutters, "Thank you for staying with me last night. I am so sorry that you had to find out like that."

"Better that I found out sooner rather than later," I say; not sure if I would rather had just not known at all, but still very unwilling to say that out loud.

His teeth begin to elongate again and he leans down to breath into my ear, "My mate is still scared." He observes, "I will protect you."

"I don't need someone to protect me!" I say loudly, trying to pull of the restraining hand on my abdomen and trying to push away the feathers. "And how do you know that I am your mate!"

"I know," he tells me, standing up on the opposite side of the bed to me, and we stand staring daggers at each other.

Hugging my arms around myself, I try and hold myself together to stop the tears. "What if you suddenly find yourself knowing that someone else is your mate?" I sign, "I have read a lot of books, Draco." I remind him, "Do you not think that I would know what it means if someone is a Veela?"

Shaking his head, he stalks his way around the bed with carefully positioned footfalls, "You don't know what it feels like, what it means to know that your other half is standing right in front of you, how my heart jumps so hard when you smile and laugh." He cups his hand over my neck and strokes my skin with his thumb. "It is definitely you."

"When did you realise?"

"The day that I..."

He stops talking and I give him an encouraging nod, "When?"

He scrubs a hand down his face and sighs before saying, "The day that I made you think that I was sleeping with someone." His eyes flash black in time with the quick lash of hurt that strikes through my body and he seems to instinctively reach out to me, but his hands drop to fist the material of his trousers.

"Oh," I pause, dragging air into my lungs through clenched teeth, "That day." I calm my breathing, no point in reopening old wounds just to make them scar deeper. As I flip my hair back over my shoulders, I breathe in deeply and lift my eyes to meet his again.

"You know that nothing happened between us that day."

"I know." I tell him – deciding to omit that fact that it still hurts even though I know that nothing occurred. "I trust you."

"I know." He smiles for the first time since he woke, the darkness in his eyes drifts away and they sparkle grey once more. "I can feel it."

Wincing, I push the barriers up around the parts of my brain that house my emotions and then say, "I forgot about that bit." The ability to sense the emotions of their mate is one of the skills that develop as Vella grow into their heritage.

Chuckling to himself, he looks me over. "That won't work, my darling." He tells me, stroking a slender, pale hand down my arm. "You can't hide yourself from me, you haven't been able to for a long time."

"Why?!" I ask, dazed. "That is a major invasion of privacy!"

"I can't read your thoughts, only your emotions, and it is to help me keep you safe." Running a hand through his hair, he tries to explain.

"I don't need to be kept safe!" I tell him, holding my head high and trying to look poised and dignifies while still looking strong and in control – let me tell you now that I fail miserably! – and my shin is still up in the air as he lunges to me.

I fail to see him coming and my back is already to the bed, and the wind is knocked out of me before I can even blink. "That was not fair. You have special, freaky powers and I was off guard."

"Would you like a written declaration the next time I want to attack you? Because that is _so _realistic!" He smirks, looking down at me and reaching up to push a few locks of unruly hair off my brow.

I huff, "Fine, but don't expect me to stop trying to overcome you." I tell him, "I don't like losing, Draco, so I would watch your back."

"I wouldn't have it any other way."

Huffing again in annoyance, I remind him to finish his story. Taking hold of my hand, he helps me to sit up before he begins talking again. "I told you afterwards that it made me feel sick, but I lied." He pauses, running a hand through his hair, "I couldn't even breath for a while, my heart felt like it was literally breaking and I couldn't stop shaking." Sighing, he closes his eyes and remembers it in his head; it must have been bad because I can see him blanch quite obviously. "I called my mother and father and they came over."

"Twenty three is very late to go through the changes." He tells me after a short pause, "So my parents thought that I didn't have the gene, but it turns out that I did... I didn't even know that there was the Veela gene in my family." I reach over and take one of his hands in mine and pull it onto my lap, twisting our fingers together and waiting patiently for him to continue.

"I'm not trying to excuse my actions," He assures me, "But I don't think I would have blown up like that if this was going on, I never would have even been insecure enough to consider that you might be two timing _me." _

"Jerk!" I pinch the top of his hands and watch as the slight red mark disappears instantly.

He laughs, pulling my fingers up to my mouth and pressing a few light kisses over them as he starts talking again, "You can do better that that,"

"Don't tempt me, Draco." I warn, "There is a glass vase over there that would look lovely while cracking your skull."

"Oh how you wound me." He flops back on the bed, the force of the fall dragging my down as well and he quickly rolls his body over mine. "Anyway, I know now that the reason I fell so hard for you was because you are perfect," Blushing, I lower my eyes, but the content feeling is gone quickly, "For me, for everyone else you are horrendously ghastly."

"Rude," I mutter, "You only have one me, I can walk away quite easily, Draco." I tell him, even though I know somewhere inside me that it would never be that easy. "Is this why you wouldn't have sex with me?" I ask, wrapping my legs around his waist and holding his body locked to mine – even though I know that he could evade my grasp in two seconds if he really wanted it.

"I can't have sex with you without the bonding ceremony taking place, and that can't happen until we are married." He tells me, "Virgin or not."

"What?!" My heart races, if that was his half arse attempt of asking me to marry him, I will shoot him!

He laughs, sensing my annoyance and anger as my emotions bounce from me to him, "I am not asking you to marry me now, but you will one day, and on that day, I will officially make you my wife by taking you every possible way, but until then you will stay chaste and pure and innocent."

"And what about you," I ask him annoyance flitting through me at his archaic views on chastity, "Mr. 'I had sex with almost every girl at Hogwarts!' Why do you have one standard and I have to have another."

Laughing again, he shakes his head quickly explaining, "It is not about whether you are virtuous or not!" he tells me, "Though I am very happy that you are, because knowing that I will be your first makes me immensely happy. It is the fact that you are almost guaranteed to get pregnant during the boding ceremony,"

"What if I don't want to get married?"

"What?" He looks at me, his eyes wide with shock.

Shrugging, I reach my hands up to clasp my fingers around his, "Lots of women decide not to get married."

"That is not an option." He shakes his head firmly, "You _will_ marry me, and then you _will _have my children, and you _will_ be happy!" sitting up, my legs still around his waist, he kneels on the bed. Using my – somewhat surprising – abdominal strength (and I am not going to lie and say it was easy because I find myself almost passing out from the effort as Draco's arms wrap around me to help me stay perched on his legs) I raise myself until I am looking directly into his eyes.

My eyes narrow as I glare, "You may be a Veela, Malfoy, with superior strength, but you will not take away my choices."

"I know," He sighs and I let his forehead fall to mine as his wings explode and cocoon us within them. He doesn't release his grip on my waist so we stay pressed together for several moments. "I just got scared that that was your way of telling me that you didn't want to be with me."

"Believe me that I would say it directly if I didn't want to be with you, Draco." I say, letting him bury his head in my hair and breathe in deeply. "But I see why it is best for us to not have sex until we have made the bigger life choices."

"Agreed."

"I'm glad."

Smiling, he lowers us to the bed and rests his head into the cleft between my shoulder and neck. "You took this a lot better than my father said you would."

"Your father is generally wrong." I remind him.

He sighs, running a hand down his face and leaning closer to me. I smile, an idea formulating in my head that has me pressing my lips to his neck and licking gently over the sensitive patch of his skin. His body grinds into mine, but I push him away and remind him cheekily, "Uh, uh, uh. Chastity until marriage." I push him away, rolling out of the bed and trying my catwalk style walk – quite successfully – to the bathroom. Looking over I wink in a way that I believe is totally saucy and say, "I guess that means any invitation to share the shower is pointless." I pull my t-shirt over my head, turning before he can see my bare chest and walk further into the bathroom. He almost runs to the door, but I slam it shut and lock it before he can step through.

I hear him growling from the other side of the door and have to stop myself from falling into peels of laughter.

By the time I emerge from the shower – in lacy black underwear – he is steaming away in the corner of the room, his hands locked behind his neck and his eyes flashing in the natural lighting of the room. "That was not very nice, Hermione."

"Ordering me around is not very nice either, you should think about that in the future." I bend over, trying to be as subtly slutty as I can as I reach over to look for nothing in the bottom drawer of the dresser – which has now become a mix of both our clothes because for some reason he decided that a better system would be to split each drawer instead of have a set of drawers each; his system is stupid, but I am not about to complain.

I bend there for a while, trying to be sexy – though suspecting that I am failing – until I hear the footsteps and a low growling that makes me shiver in anticipation. "You are evil." He whispers, caressing the soft flesh of my arse with the palms of his hands and then slipping a little further.

Holding back a groan, I straighten up and step away, "You shouldn't touch if you want a virgin wife, Malfoy."

Groaning, he pushes me against the wall, "Fuck having a virgin wife."

I move my body to press against his, "I make my own decisions, don't I, Malfoy?"

"Yes, yes," His hands inch forwards, cupping onto my breast through my bra and squeezing gently.

"Impatient much," I smirk, "Maybe waiting isn't such a bad idea,"

"It's a very bad idea," He lifts me up, cupping his hands around my arse and pulling me closer to his chest. "Very bad."

"Nah, I think patience is a virtue that you need to learn." I tell him, standing up and moving away from him, I grab a dress and pull it over my head as I make my way closer to the front door, "Get dressed, you have to go to work."

* * *

A week after the night I found out Malfoy's secret, I find myself following Sirius Black down a cobbled pathway on the outskirts of London. A heavily pregnant woman, with rosy cheeks, long blond hair and bright blue eyes opens the door. "You must be Hermione." She says; her voice is sweet, like honey on toast. She seems homely, as if she has a Mrs. Weasley sense about her, and she opens her arms while embarrassing me in a hug.

Malfoy growls. He insisted on coming, something about not knowing who I was going to meet and not trusting anyone who associated with Sirius. A pretty heated discussion – lasting many hours and involving a good few broken (ancient) vases as we slammed each other into walls ... well I did most of the slamming and Malfoy didn't even have the decency to wince; _Bastard!_ – and lots of reparo spells later, a compromise was reached.

Ok not really a compromise.

More like Malfoy won. He didn't compromise on anything, and I got the opposite of what I wanted. I accept the hug – somewhat reluctantly as I am not really a cuddly person – and introduce myself and Malfoy. "I'm sorry," I mutter to Sirius, "He insisted on coming."

"It's quite alright," Beatrice calls from her place in the kitchen, "I guess I should start meeting more of Sirius' friends."

"Sirius and Malfoy are not really the best of friends," I walk into the kitchen, helping her to place the pot of tea on a tray and then carrying it into the dining room.

She looks at me, her eyebrows raised, "Really?" she asks and when I look up I almost drop my pot of tea, the cups and the saucers.

The both sit on the sofa, a friendly distance apart, watching a football match on the TV. Sirius sits explaining the offside rule – something that I still don't really understand – and they yell and scream together at the large screen. "Well, something has definitely progressed." I mutter, "Maybe they are growing up?"

Both Beatrice and I burst into fits of laughter and Malfoy looks up, raising a blond eyebrow and giving me the look that means I should know I am going to have to pay for something later. "So how long is there now?" I ask, looking at her protruding stomach as we take our seats on the remaining couch.

"Only three weeks left," she tells me, looking at Sirius, "Thank you." She says suddenly. "I owe you a lot."

Shaking my head I hold up a hand and wave her thanks away, "Don't mention it." I smile, "I sort of have the bossy thing down par," I tell her, "I got really good at reprimanding people when I had to constantly tell off Ron and Harry for something or other."

"Well, thank you."

* * *

Three weeks later, the Potter's join us at the weekly family dinner, though Sirius and Beatrice are both absent. Two days after I met Beatrice for the first time, Sirius introduced her to the family.

He got a whack with a wooden spoon on the side of his head from Mrs. Weasley for his troubles and Beatrice received a very warm welcome from everyone except Jenifer.

With all these babies popping up, maybe I should warn Ron that he really needs to take protection seriously because if Jenifer gets pregnant and has to stick around, I will probably throw myself off the side of a building and bring her with me for good measure- no need to leave her as a burden on everyone else.

The night of the family dinner, exactly four weeks after the birth of the youngest Potter child, Cain Regulus Black came into the world, a little boy with a shock of black hair.

I also had to warn all the males in the house about Draco, not that that was an easy conversation to get out.

Lying in bed now, with Draco hugging onto my side, I remember the way that Ron started to walk forwards and then stopped in his tracks, "Right, err, please don't hurt her because I would have to defend her honour and I don't want you to go all Veela crazy on my arse." The whole room began laughing and the tension was cut very quickly.

"It went well tonight, Draco." I muse, lying on my back and playing with the blond hair that drapes easily onto my stomach.

"I love you, Hermione." He whispers, holding onto e tighter and letting his wings unfurl to cover me easily. We roll over so he can cocoon us in and I smile into his chest.

It has only taken me four weeks longer than him, but here I am, saying five very important words that I mean with my heart and soul. "I love you too, Draco."

* * *

**I hope that you all enjoyed this chapter. You may think that I am rushing through things quickly, but I have already had one birth and I didn't want to have another because that would be dull so I just shuffled over it. **


	29. I JUST CANT TAKE IT ANY MORE!

**Cherrio guys, how is everyone today? i hope that you guys liked this chapter. i am so sorry that it has taken me so long to upload it and it is not as long as it should have been. there are only 7 weeks until the start of exams and i am starting to panic. **

**i had a full out panic attack two weeks ago about my exams and then i realised it was snowing and had this huge freak out that there was going to be an iceage because it was snowing in march - i ended up spending an hour researching just to make sure that my fear was unfounded. Well, at least you all know that you are more sane than i am! **

**i know that none of you care about my life but i felt like sharing anyway. :)**

**so here it is. again i am sorry for the delay. **

* * *

_Four weeks After Cain Black is born._

* * *

"Hermione!" I roll over trying to find that spot of warmth once more, the one that I can shuffle myself into and feel completely safe and protected, but it seems that Draco and his ever present warmth has decided to take the one morning I want to sleep in as the best time in the world to be the early riser and catch the worm.

I, on the other hand, have no intention of following his path, so I pull the covers in as far as they can go and try and radiate my heat out. "Get your arse out of bed!" I groan, pulling my pillow over my head, but it backfires. Trying to goad me into responding with more than half arse sounds, he drags all of my comforts away – the pillow I can handle, but the duvet is a fucking low blow.

They land somewhere and are soon replaced by the tensing muscles of Malfoy. His wings extend, heating me better than any cover ever could and I fear that I may actually be purring. "Why do you do this to me?" I mummer, pressing my lips into the hollow between his shoulder and neck – and this time he is the one making a noise that sounds something akin to purring. "I just want to sleep." I continue to trail open mouthed kisses up his throat and then I trace back down, following the line I previously made with the tip of my tongue. Shivering, he dips his head to rest in the hollow of my neck.

Running my hands down his sides, I slip my fingers into the waist band of his jeans and then allow my hands to trace the slow circle of his waist, starting with his hips and leisurely reaching the dip at the bottom of his spine.

Whispered kisses trace over the planes of his bare chest for as far as I can reach, and I begin to follow the traced patterns once more with my tongue as I grind myself up into him. He starts to harden and pushes into my core through our clothes as I continue to move against him.

I push on his shoulders and – with a lot of force on my part; seriously it is like moving a ton of bricks! – I manage to roll us over. Grinding into him slowly and relishing in the sigh he voices, I push my self away. Finally, after fighting away hundreds of feathers, I manage to stand on the bed. From my new advantageous position, I can look down at his flustered appearance, "I don't like torturing you Draco," I tell him, "So leave me to sleep and everything will be ok for you."

I begin to walk to the door of the bathroom, "You should know that once we are married, I will not let you get away with this." I turn to look at him, his wings have retracted and he is lying in a pair of dark jeans and a bare chest – looking like a Levis model in all his unparalleled glory – and he continues t stare into space as he folds his hands behind his head. "I will warn you now that if you try something like this, I can promise you that I will fuck you so hard into this mattress that you won't be able to walk for a week." He smirks to himself, clearly very self satisfied with the blush that he has caused to meander up my neck.

I on the other hand groan in my head – unfortunately for me he can probably feel the shiver of lust that flushes through me – and I feel my knickers dampen at the thought of what he could do to me.

Clearly my plan backfired considering that I am the one breathing heavily and totally aroused, while he continues to lie calm and collected In the middle of his pristine, emerald sheets, his blond hair contrasting starkly – and very artistically – with the black satin of the pillow. "Get dressed Hermione; we have a diner to attend."

"What time is it?" I ask, reaching into the wardrobe and grasping onto an emerald green dress – Draco purchased the offending garment for me, but it really is stunning – and a pair of black heels.

Sighing, Draco sits up and stretches the muscles in the back of his neck before he pulls a white polo over his head. "Tie for us to be making our way to the Weasley's!"

I dash into the bathroom and wash in record time.

* * *

By the time we make it to the Weasley's we are late, and everyone is settling into the normal routine. The babies are crying, Teddy is jumping around on the sofa's, Ginny and Fleur are arguing in the corner while glaring covertly at a 'still-as-dim-witted-as-the-day-she-was-born' Jenifer and Molly if frantically running around the kitchen, he wand in the air and threatening to castrate Mr. Weasley if he doesn't get out of her way. "Oh, aren't they just special!" I gush, looking towards both the little babies in the room, as I walk over to Beatrice and Sirius and rescue him from a wailing Cain – who he passes me quite rapidly and Beatrice looks relieved to have someone else fuss over her child for a few precious minutes. Both of them have deep circles under their eyes and they look just about ready to pass out.

Harry on the other hand looks just a joyous as the day Jaden was born. Parenthood seems to have been treating him well. "Stop looking so fucking happy, Potter!" Sirius snarls, closing his eyes and rubbing a hand over the stubble littering his jaw line.

"I don't know how they do it," Beatrice sighs, "Sirius and I are about to die!"

I rock Cain in my arms and make cute little shushing noises as I listen to Beatrice and Sirius. Draco sits to one end of the sofa and I settle into the gap between his legs, with my back pressed to his chest, as I cradle Cain in my arms. "Aren't you just perfect?" I smile, looking down at him and leaning back into Draco's chest as he wraps an arm around my waist.

"Ah, look at this." George walks into the room, holding a mug of Butterbeer and handing it to Draco as he passes, "Be careful, she's going to start wanting kids of her own."

Pulling me closer into his body and reaching a hand round to help adjust Cain's blanket that had slipped, Draco whispers, "Anything that she wants, she can have," into my ear and I feel my heart clench in my chest, as I think about Little blond kids running about the place, spouting facts from Hogwarts: A history and smirking – hopefully without the curse of the bushy hair.

"Dinner is ready!" A frazzled Mrs. Weasley yells and Fleur, Ginny and I move into the kitchen to help transport the pans and dishes, which unfortunately results in us being the last to enter the dining room. Here chairs. One next to Draco – obviously saved for me, though Ginny doesn't get the hint, another next to Sirius – though Fleur cheats by using some sort of Veela speed to get there before me – and the final remaining seat, beside... yep, that is right... beside Jenifer.

And here it comes.

Twenty minutes later her voice cuts through the air for the sixty billionth time. "Hermione, are you listening to me?" Jenifer shoves me with her over pointy elbow, and I fight the urge to slam my fist into the side of her head. I want to ask her why, for all that is holy, she thinks that I am going to start listening now when I haven't for the last half an hour, but I don't. I don't want her to kill the last two brain cells by trying to rub together an intelligent thought.

It takes me ten deep breaths and a lot of will power to unclench my fists. Stabbing a potato and shoving it in my mouth I try to chew in a lady life fashion, but it doesn't work.

I have just got a grip on my sanity – Ginny smirks at me from the other side of the table and I almost sling m y next skewered potato at her – when she speaks again in her nasal, scratchy voice. "HERMIONE!"

"You must have mistaken me for someone who gives a damn about all your petty little problems!" I just about manage to stop myself from yelling 'FUCK OFF!' – but restraining myself from swearing means that I return to my juvenile roots and scream, "Shut up!" and I stand. I know that it is lame; I know that I sound like a school child in the playground but it is out there. The room is silent. Ginny and Fleur look ecstatic. Jenifer's horrified face is like a boost to my ego and Draco and the rest of the Weasley's seems to be waiting eagerly for when I pop. "In the last half an hour you have not said something remotely kind about me or anyone; just insult after insult after insult and I am sick of it!"

"You tell her, Granger!" Ginny yells like my own personal cheerleader, just as Fleur stands up too, "Go for it, Hermione!"

"Hermione–" Ron begins to say but I am not done yet. _Not in this lifetime Ron! _I think to myself before rushing to continue with my tirade.

I push my hair back from my face with a hand and then throw both of my hands on my hip, trying to look as intimidating as Mrs. Weasley, but definitely failing. "Is there not a censor or something to help you out here, I mean NORMAL people can hear what is coming out of their mouth and stop it! Obviously that part of your brain was shut off... oh wait, none of it is in use!"

"Do something!" she screams at Ron, jumping up from the table and slamming her fist down onto its surface, but no one seems to be listening. Score one to Hermione!

I turn and walk into the kitchen, Mrs. Wealsey, Ginny and Fleur follow me in and all burst out with laughter before dragging me into a hug. "Why couldn't you be dating Ron?" Mrs. Wealsey sighs.

"I'm sorry Molly, but I am taken." I smile as Draco walks to the doorway. He rests against the frame, crossing his arms in front of his chest so his muscles bulge out and he smirks. "I'm happy." I whisper, though I know that he can hear me.

* * *

"You were brilliant today!" Draco smiles, pulling me down onto the mattress and snuggling us both into a warm embrace as he covers us with his wings.

I would have thought that the feathers would be scratchy and annoying, but they whisper along my skin with a tender softness that feel like Draco is running his hands over every part of my body at the same time. The wings eventually shrink back into his body during the night, but for now I take comfort in the protective warmth. Suddenly an overwhelming fear takes over my body, "You will never leave me, right?" I ask timidly.

"Never." He promises, holding on to me tightly kissing different spots of my face. It's sweet and tender and full of love and it makes my heart swell and burst.

"I love you." I tell him, burying my face into his chest and letting his hands stroke through the curls of my hair.

I can feel him smiling against the top of my head, "I love you too."

The night is cold and distressed outside, the wind howls and the trees surrounding the house scrapes against the windows, but in the warmth of Draco Malfoy's arms I feel nothing but safe.

* * *

**Please please please review!**


	30. A Real Smile!

**Hello everyone :) I hope that everyone had a lovely Easter – with lots of chocolate :) I asked my mother to buy me a Percy Pig Easter egg from Marks and Spencer's – and he only lived to see the world for two days. For anyone who doesn't know – percy pig is like a brand and I know that the chocolate is like pink and what not, but they only sell them once every year and they are so cute. I would have kept him if my resolve was stronger, but alas it was not. **

**What kind of easter eggs did you guys get? **

**Also, on the topic of chocolate, I have realised that – despite my love for them – I only ever eat Cadburys Cream eggs at Easter time. **

**Not that you all really care! **

**Now, I never really thought about it, but is this because they don't sell them the rest of the year? Or they do but you just never have the craving until Easter. **

**It has also continued to snow in London – at least where I live. Come on spring time. There is a dress I want to wear – and open toed wedges but I can't because it is too cold, and I don't want frost bite! **

**I am sorry if I bored you to tears, if you read this – I am sorry you had to sit through it!**

* * *

Two weeks passed since the night that has now been termed –rather ungratefully in my opinion as they were all rooting for me – the night that 'Hermione Blew Up'. Oh joy, I have a day named after me.

It also doesn't help that when the people who were there that night walk past me with their hands held up in front of them as if I am some sort of dangerous time bomb just ready to explode. One more fucking fake placating gesture and I really will explode.

As I think back over the last few weeks, I smile.

Draco finally decided to assert himself and request my help with the sanctuary once more. And sitting here at Draco's study desk, working from home, I couldn't happier. I have something to spend my time on, an amazing relationship and friends – that when, not being pricks, are actually fantastic.

It has been a good few months now since something has gone awry. And you know what they say... if everything is going too well, someone if hiding something. Well, I don't know if I just made that up, but it should be a rule if it is not already.

"Hey, Hermione?" Draco asks, looking up from his position on the sofa, a large volume of some subject or another resting on his chest and his head resting on his left arm like a pillow. "Are you ready to take a break yet, dear?" he kicks his feet off the sofa and stands. I take a long moment to admire him.

Baggy dark denim jeans, the lack of a belt creates the sort of apprehension and suspense of not knowing if they are going to slip from him slim hips – personally I am hoping that they do, I am still a female after all and would really like to witness what he is hiding down there (Don't you dare lie to yourselves here! If I am certain of one thing, it is that everyone is terribly anxious to discover the kind of heat Draco Malfoy is packing!) – and show the hint of blue boxers, covered by a navy over shirt which sticks out from underneath the white pull over.

"Yes a break sounds good," I drag myself from my full frontal staring and stand, shimmying my skirt back down my legs as I do so; seen as they all have a tendency to ride up as soon as I make the smallest movement.

Dinner is an exciting affair, I manage to slip as I make my way into the dining room dropping to the floor and pulling a rather ungrateful Malfoy down with me. I deal with the situation the only way I know how – by laughing hysterically and trying, yet still failing, to pull myself from the floor – and eventually Draco has to hoist me up by the arms and lead me gently to my seat.

"Mother." I am tucking into a rather delicious slice of apple pie when Draco utters that word, followed quickly by, "Father," And, "This is a surprise." And he stands quickly.

I have to stop myself from spitting out my food in shock and I eventually swallow painfully and stand as they approach. "Miss Granger." Narcissa Malfoy strides purposefully, yet still managing to appear delicate and poised, into the room, followed by the commanding presence of her husband, who in turn gives a slight incline of his head to signal that he has managed to acknowledge our presence.

Even when he wasn't being rude by opening his mouth to Harry, Ron or I, the head of the house of Malfoy was still a rude Bastard. Just the haughty look on his face and the sharp ridges on his nose that seemed to indicate that he was smelling something foul, made him look like a right foul git. But I manage to stop the roll of my eyes when I see the same pointed, 'Ignoring the scum of the earth' look on his face as he takes a seat at the table.

A hose elf strides forwards and begins to place plates of pie in front of the elder Malfoy's – and I am all but ready to jump in for the poor house elf's defence, when Lucius Malfoy makes short work of a word of thanks. Truly never thought that I would see the day when Lucius Sodding Malfoy thanks – _thanks – _a house elf.

My facial expressions must have been conveying my expression of disbelief, but a sharp kick from Draco quickly sets that to right. "I guess," Draco begins, "That now is as good a time as any to introduce you both to my Mate." Smiling, Draco clasps my sweaty palm in his own and brings it to his lips. After pressing a kiss to the inside of my wrist, inhaling and probably drawing comfort from my scent as I have seen him do many times before, he flicks his eyes back to his parents, "Mother, Father, this is Hermione Granger."

"It's a pleasure to see you again Lord and Lady Malfoy." No reason not to act like a proper young lady to the parents of my boyfriend, I guess, therefore I decide to use their proper titles.

"And you too dear."

Another non committal sound from Lucius is apparently enough to signify that he has acknowledged – and begrudgingly accepted – my presence in Draco's life. _How lovely that you even deign to allow me eye contact. _Unfortunately, Draco – with his emotion readying powers – is able to sense my annoyance which results in him squeezing my hand with his inhumane power. I actually think that I can hear my bones sliding over each other, Draco winces at his own actions and kisses lightly along the bones of my hands – his own little apology.

"So, I assume that marriage is to be around the corner?" Narcissa Malfoy's expression does not change; Draco and I glance covertly at each other and look quickly away and Lucius look just about ready to pass out.

Shaking his head, Draco finds his voice and says, "Not yet mother."

Pursing her lips, her face becomes harsher as she looks us both over once. Draco's hand tightens around mine as his mother says, "Well, don't delay Draco. An autumn wedding would be lovely and that only gives us a year to prepare, these things take time." Looking like she has not just changed the atmosphere of the room, Narcissa continues to sip her tea and take delicate bites of her tart.

"Mother, it is none of your concern when I wish to ask Hermione to marry me, and if she accepts then we will do it on our terms,"

Lucius speaks for the first time, "I told you Narcissa, she is already changing him – he would never have shown such blatant rudeness before."

I almost manage to spit out an, "EXCUSE ME!" but Draco beets me to it and says, "I would appreciate you both leaving now, and don't come back _Lucius _until you learn to censor your tongue around my mate."

They make a scary picture standing in the doorway; backs stick straight – like someone shoved poles somewhere not to nice – and regal robes fluttering in the breeze from the open doors. Narcissa stamps to the doorway and Lucius follows in her wake with a swish of cloaks.

Snorting, I manage to form a sentence, "Well, I guess meeting the parents went well."

"Maybe we should tackle your mother today, get all the relatives out of the way in one go." Draco nudges me in the side and we laugh together, "Can't be any worse than that, right?"

"I hope not, my mother has always been very liberal with her thoughts on my life. My life, my rules." I say, looking into his eyes and smiling before my face turns sour, "It was always my bastard father who was a controlling git."

"Sorry,"

"What for?" I ask, shrugging my shoulders, "But I'll let you know now that if you ever hurt our children like my father hurt me, I will bury you alive, and not in a metaphorical way!" I walk out of the room and make my way up to the bedroom, locking the door to the bathroom and washing up after a stressful day.

_3 weeks later_

I smile as Draco and I walk out of the posh restaurant, some exclusive place that is it had not been for Draco Malfoy I would never have managed to get a table let alone stepped foot into the place. I guess money still is an advantage.

"I had a nice time tonight, Draco." I say as he takes hold of my hand and we walk together down the cobbled streets.

Smiling, Draco looks down at me. "I had a nice time too." Holding onto my waist and pulling me in for a steamy kiss – the sort of kiss that has my knees wobbling and my hands grasping onto Draco's shoulders to stop myself from melting into a puddle – as he apparates us back to his house.

I am about to yell at him for risking a splinching by apparating like that, but they I look around and take in the room.

Flower petals lead a trail through the house and Draco pulls me along to follow the red path through the entry way and into the sitting room. White drapes hang from the ceiling, casting a sensual atmosphere over the room, and Draco leads me to the centre. Enchanted balls of light hover like little stars above our heads and Draco has me stand right in the centre of the room.

My heart begins to race, pumping and hammering madly in my chest and my breathing begins to hasten as he drops to one knee.

"I wanted to do this right, Hermione." He tells me, gesturing around him at the ambiance he has created and he smiles, "I love you more than anything in the world. When I first realised that I was Veela, I thought that the feelings I had for you would always be because of that part of me. And then as I started to really get to know you, I found that that wasn't true. The real me, not the Veela part, fell in love with you; so madly in love with you that I can't ever imagine my life without you – mate or not. And I don't ever want to have to imagine it."

Tears slide gracefully down my face and I cover my mouth as he pulls a little black box from his trouser pocket. "You are beautiful and funny and charming and witty and I guess that intelligent goes without saying, and Hermione, you would make me the happiest man in the world if you agreed to marry me?"

It sounds like it should be a statement, but the look in his eyes and the tone of his voice show that he is full of insecurities about this moment. I nod, my throat chocking up and tears pooling heavily in my eyes. "Lord Malfoy," I say, deciding that for once I will acknowledge his proper title, "It would be my honour to marry you."

I used to think that I saw him smile often, that I saw him grin and exude happiness. But I have never seen the happiness that radiated from him in this moment. His face cracks into a smile, the most beautiful and heart-warming smile that I have ever seen on anyone, and he pushes the ring gently onto my finger before jumping up and grabbing me about the middle.

His hands tighten and he pulls my body off the floor. His arms lock around my waist and he spins us in circles before placing me lightly back onto my feet and stooping down to kiss my lips.

It's a long, passionate kiss that melts my insides – and if it were not for Draco's arms supporting me I would be dropping to the ground, but his arms are holding me as we clamber to be closer to one another. And, as we moan into each other's mouths, I realise that I have never felt so happy, so at home and so loved at any moment in my entire life.

He pulls away gently, kissing down my neck and then pushing his face into the junction between my neck and shoulder. Breathing in deeply, he sucks gently on the skin before pulling his lips away and murmuring, "I love you with all of my heart."

"And I you," peppering my face with kisses, he leads me into our bedroom, taking us to the bed and lying us down within the confines of his soft sheets. He continues to kiss and caress all of my body, and though we are not naked, or touching intimate parts of each other, I don't think that anyone has felt more satisfied then we do now.

Sleeping comes easily, as we curl into each other, both of us drifting off into blissfully happy sleep. Shutting my eyes a moment after Draco allows me to see that the smile is still on his face.

* * *

**I hope that you liked it. Please review :) I think I have mentioned it before, but Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy are a Lord and Lady. I think that Lord is just a title for nobility, therefore I know that Draco would not have the same standing as his parents until they are deceased, but i decided not to research, so for arguments sake he is a Lord too! **


	31. Apologies

Hey guys,

I am so sorry for the long wait for the next chapter. I am afraid that this is not a chapter.

I do have a good excuse, it is the may june time for the really important exams.

However, good news is that they are almost finished. They finish on the June 20th, and then I have my summer holidays and I promise that the story will be finished during my summer holidays.

On the 21st I promise to have a super long chapter for you guys – I will shoot for 8,000 words – to try and make up for the two months that I have been MIA.

I have every intention of finishing this story. I know what is going to happen, but I just can't take the time to write any chapters right now.

To everyone who has exams this june – work hard and make sure that you try your best, keep working and good luck.

Further more, the Author KateGoode, has allowed me to continue on with her story Cold Front. It didn't get a very good response from people when she posted it and so she allowed me to take over. i really enjoy her style of writing and i hope that i will be able to do the story justice because i was really dissapointed when she decided not to continue.

Cold Front - by KateGoode will be my next project. it also centers around Draco and Hermione and when i come back from being MIA i will continue with both of the stories at the same time. Cold Front and Why me!

if you guys want to go and check out the first few chapters of Cold Front than that would be a great idea. i haven't decided whether or not to change the first few chapters, i probably will just leave them because as i said i really enjoyed them.

Again if anyone wants to beta Cold Front, just Message me or Review on Why Me, and i will get back to you. i dont mind if you have never beta'd before, as long as you don't mind reading through thoroughly and telling me where things dont make sense :)

I hope you guys read this far down. :) xxx

I guess I will see you all on the 21st :) and please don't hate me for my absence.


	32. Of Showers and Libraries

**I guess that the first thing that I have to do is apologize for my absence. I am way past my scheduled date – and I have excuses, but I will not annoy you with them. Instead I post this nice sort of lengthy chapter.i had to stop it where i did because otherwise it would have gone on too long.  
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**WARNING – quite a bit of solo lemons in this chapter but the story is rated M so... if you do not want to read M rated things scroll three quarters of the way down :)  
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* * *

There are many things that have changed between Draco and I in the last few weeks. Namely the Connection between us.

The ability to sense his presence has begun coming much more naturally to me. He used to be able to stand in the corner of the room for hours before I noticed him standing there, but not now. Now I can tell as soon as he enters a hundred meter radius of my body.

Sensing him has become much more aggravating on top of the new ability to locate him. There is a little part of my brain that taps into his feelings; I imagine it to be much less than what he feels of me, but it is still there.

And I have to say that while feeling the waves of love that he releases, this connection – though intimate – has started to be the bane of my existence.

Now, if you do not have one of these connections, I imagine that this will be hard to understand. There is the slight issue that all of his pleasure gets released into my body as he experiences it – *Cough* like when he is in the shower *Cough*Cough* touching something or other *Cough*.

So as I sit here in the library, a nice large – totally un-arousing – tome resting in my lap, I happen to find myself incredibly aroused. Yes, I, Hermione Granger, arch my back as Draco experiences something insanely pleasurable and I feel the dampness in my knickers increase.

_Oh Fuck, Draco, Stop it. _

_Seriously, Draco!_

_Cut it out!_

_Shit my legs are shaking, Oh holy fuck!_

"Miss Granger," Shit!

Lucius Malfoy stands in the doorway of the library.

_I am going to kill you! _

_Seriously, you are going to die. _

Clenching my legs in an attempt to wade through the sensations in my body to try and focus on my fiancés father as he looks me over like I am demented – even though the only thing I can think of is imagining the feel of Draco's '_you know'_ as it slides into my body over and over and over and _over _again – I manage to nod and ask him to join me.

_Stupid cow, should have told him you were busy._

_Stupid._

_Stupid! _

_Holy Shit!_

Just about keeping a moan inside of my head, I incline my head and ask Lucius Malfoy what I can help him with. "Well, Narcissa is getting increasingly anxious about the wedding, but she didn't want to broach the subject with Draco again, not after last time," Here he pauses to cast me a cold look – like I have sudden control over the enigma that is his son and it is my fault that a grown man has his own ideas/ life – and then he continues, "So I came to ask about it."

The words may be pleasant but the tone was far from it. "She can do whatever she wants," I manage to gasp out, the tension in my stomach doubles tenfold and I can feel myself climbing higher and higher.

Boy Draco does have quite some stamina.

I look at the clock; fifteen minutes have passed since the first feeling. _Hurry the fuck up, Draco!_

I arch my hips, pushing myself into the couch to try and still the quivering of my body as Draco continues. _You are fucking DEAD! _

Lucius gives me a pitying look that just shouts that he thinks there are a few screws loose in my head, and gets up to leave.

He makes into to the door before the gasps start escaping from my lips. As soon as I hear him down the corridor I jump up and slam the library door shut and push my trousers and knickers down past my ankles. The cold air of the room hits my shivering clit and cases another rush of pleaser to shoot to the apex of my thighs.

_I am about to touch myself. _

_In Draco Malfoy's library. _

_Serves him fucking right! _

That is my last coherent thought as I reach my fingers between my legs and pull some of the ample liquid to my clit with my fingers. Sinking into the warm embrace of the closest chair, I thrust my hips forwards and begin circling the little bundle of nerves with two fingers.

_Shit. _

_Fuck! _

_For all that is holy, Draco please let me finish soon. _

"_Oh Fuck," _I realise that I said the last expletive out loud and I clamp my lips together in a vain attempt to be quiet as I continue to pleasure myself. "Oh yes!"

_Ohmigod! _

_Ohmigod. _

Somewhere in the back of my mind it registers that I can no longer feel Draco's pleasure, only own, but I don't care as I push myself closer and closer to the edge.

I don't even hear the door open as I reach my free hand under my shirt to clutch at my breast, pulling and twisting my nipple between my fingers. My hand continues to press quick circles around my clit and I thrust my hips to some unknown rhythm as I feel my body tensing in wait for the final push over the edge.

"Oh!" I growl out as I gush over my hand, coating the chair in my juices as they readily flow from my pussy with the orgasm that rocks through my body.

"Do you really think that the library is the place for this?" my head snaps up and I clamber to shut my legs from his burning gaze, grabbing my knickers from the floor and pulling them back up my legs as I feel my cheeks tinge red. "I was worried when I felt you... you know..."

"You felt me?!" I ask incredulously, annoyed at his assumption that this was a one way street! "Fuck you, Draco!"

His eyes widen in shock, looking at me with those grey pools he calls eyes, he asks, "What are you talking about?" flicking his head, his blond hair moves from his eyes and he glares at me, I refuse to feel any embarrassment considering that it is all _his _fault anyway!

I grab my trousers from the floor and pull them back over my quivering legs – and I have to fight the urge to moan as the seam presses deliciously into my already aroused body. "Well, there might be something you forgot to mention, _my love_," I tell him, zipping up my jeans and flicking the button before realising that his eyes are following the path of my fingers as they cover the intimate area that I was just fondling. "And have a think about it, if you could feel me, what do you think I was feeling as you were upstairs taking a shower and touching yourself with vigour."

"You could feel that," He asks, and finally has the decency to look mildly embarrassed.

"Yes, did I also mention that your father stopped round," I tell him, "While you were pleasuring yourself, might I add, now not only does he hate the ground I walk on, but he also thinks that I am mentally deficient..." I trail off, "Oh shit!"

"What?"

"Oh fuck!"

Draco look at me, mildly miffed as he has to ask again, "What?"

"Your dad knows!" I half yell, clutching as his shower robe with my cum covered fingers – I realise then that he can probably smell my arousal and the look in his eyes has me gushing again as he surveys my hands with a hungry look. "He obviously has experienced this before, so he must have known!"All I receive from Draco is a laugh that has me pushing on his chest, "This is not funny!" I yell, then an idea pops through my head and I suck my still soaked fingers into my mouth, before withdrawing them slowly and pressing my lips to his, caressing his tongue with my own and letting him taste my arousal before pulling sharply away and walking to the door.

His eyes are black as they survey me and I shake my hips with every step; serves him right! "I'm going to get you back, Draco, just you wait." I tell him, smirking in a way that I stole from him – even though I know that there is no way that it could ever look as good on him as it does on me – and then walking out of the room to go and have a shower.

* * *

The next time, a week later, I begin the little connection that we share. Blaise, Theo, Marcus Flint and Adrian Pucey are around for dinner and I decide that this is the perfect time to exact my revenge. All through dinner I am the ideal fiancé, I ask questions and am completely engaging with his friends, and I know just when to excuse myself – it was made easier considering that I worked with all of them.

I tell Draco that I will be upstairs and I have to bite my tongue to stop the smirk that threatens the ruin my plan, holding onto the banister that winds its way up the stairs, I turn around and wave at Draco before disappearing into our bedroom.

I give him five minutes. I have never been very happy with the idea of touching myself; unless I am super aroused already I find it hard to find the right way to do it so that it feels amazing.

After speaking to Ginny about my problem, she decided to hand me a stack of 'magazines' and had dutifully folded a page down to hint at exactly what I should do. Fleur laughed when she found out my predicament and told me that she would have ripped off Bill's balls if he tried something like that.

The page Ginny folded down – and now that I think about this, it is all a little weird that I have been discussing these sorts of self pleasuring techniques with my friends – talk about some sort of shower technique.

Basically; just spray and hold.

Spray and hold.

Spray and hold.

Ok, _you can do this, _it's just ... spray and hold. Oh, and AIM! Aiming is important. Much more important that the spraying or the holding.

Ok, _spray, hold and aim! _

_Right I think we have all got it now! _

_Shut up! _

_I cannot believe that I am ARGUING with MYSELF! _

I fill up the bath a little – otherwise it would be too cold... we have to plan ahead here! – and take the detachable showerhead from the holder. _I cannot believe that I am doing _this!

I twist the knob until it reads 'pulse', the massaging one and lie down in the tub. _I cannot believe that I am doing this. _

Basically, the gist I gathered was that you had to aim it at your clit; and when I do, oh _holy mother of Merlin does it feel like heaven! _

Arching my hips, I hold myself in direct line of the spray, bucking my body and trying to push myself closer to the peak. Eventually, it stops being about Draco and payback altogether. Rotating my hips, the spray makes little circles on my clit, and I imagine it is Draco's tongue; licking and sucking and nibbling until I come apart in waves of ecstasy that flow through me.

I keep it trained on my sensitive nub, not able to let go of the pleasure riding through me just yet as I fall apart in an earth shattering orgasm. I find that I cannot stop; I ride through it, keeping the pulse trained directly on my clit and push myself up on my unoccupied hand thrusting my hips and feeling the pleasure build once more. All of a sudden Draco's pleasure mixes with my own; I can feel him now in the back of my mind. He must have relieved himself to sort out his little problem.

I smile to myself and then all thought of what Draco may or may not be doing downstairs is shoved out of my mind as I begin to imagine him here with me; here holding me firmly in his grasp as he thrusts unrelentingly into my tight pussy, here circling my clit with his finger as he pumps continuously into my body. I keen, falling back on my shaking arm and gripping the side of the bathtub as I collapse with sensation.

I know that I am going to receive a telling off later, but right now, I couldn't care less because I am so exhausted and pleasured and alive that every little bit of my body feels hypersensitive.

"You made your point," Draco says, watching me from the doorway and walking into the bathroom to pick me up. He holds my naked form to his chest, lifting me out of the bath and walking me to our room before dropping me on the bed.

"I want you so bad, Draco."

"Three months, that is all." He says, kissing my forehead and leaving me to get dressed on y own as he goes back down to entertain his friends.

* * *

The next two months are the worst of my entire life. Narcissa Malfoy is like a bomb; destructive, unrelenting, painful are the three words that I would associate with her.

Our rapport has not progressed from enemies. We are still lodged firmly within that category and I do not foresee any development in our relationship in the near future – apart from the fact that I might strangle her, no progression – and she has been making more and more appearances as the days to Draco and I's wedding dwindle.

Holding my head high, I ignore the fact that the tailor adjusting my gown seems to have it in for me (there are only so many times that a pin can slip without it being deliberate) and admire the dress that Narcissa has forced on me.

If I have to be honest – and I do so begrudgingly – she does that _some _taste, but being in her presence is like being tortured with a hot poker... scathing jabs included.

Narcissa has decided that tomorrow, will be the day that we choose the bridesmaids dresses; in France. She gives me a 6 AM rise and shine time; who needs to be up at 6 AM to be ready for shops that open at 9? Narcissa Malfoy does because there is an hour time difference between France and the United Kingdom which apparently makes all the difference in the world.

Beep!

Beep!

BEEP!

I smash my hand over the alarm clock, six AM it reads. I have a throbbing headache from going to bed too late the night before and then having to wrench my body out of bed at six fricking AM. It is not like we even have to get a flight.

We are taking a PORTKEY! Two second travel!

I sit up, I wash, I get dressed.

Every action has to be completed as if it is the last action in a sequence; every action has to bring a reward if I am going to get through this. So, I just keep reminding myself that every action brings me closer to the last action of the day. Every painful movement brings me closer to what I want. What I need. A good night's rest.

The morning passes with a fog, I can't seem to remember what I have done. I find myself sitting at the table and eating breakfast without being able to recall how I had gotten there – Draco sits glaring at me, I forced him to wake up at the same time as me. If I have to go through the pains of his mother, than he should go through them with me.

My feet feel like lead bricks as I make my way across the stone yard at seven AM to where the she devil is waiting for me in her snakeskin heels and white tunic on black jeans. Apparently she has progressed enough for muggle clothing to be suitable!

A muggleborn fiancé for her son however, you ask?

_No fucking way!_

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**_I hope that it has not been two disappointing; feel free to yell at me for my absence, but please review to tell me what you think. this chapter was a bit risque but i think that they were lacking a little in the smut department :)_**


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